Filibuster Vs. tyranny of the mob.

Aug 2010
336
60
Cliffside Park, NJ
Filibuster Vs. tyranny of the mob.

Filibusters defend the rights of minority parties against mob tyranny.
I am not opposed to filibusters’ worthy purposes but they should not stand alone as an unlimited absolute.
Protection of minority rights should not require tolerating minorities’ eternally holding a majority’s political will as hostage.


Senators’ should not be able to anonymously halt appointments or other senate procedures. They should publicly put their names upon any blockage of senate procedure due to their exercise of “senatorial courtesy”. Individual or coalitions of senators should be required to publicly speak and “hold the “floor” of the senate if they wish to filibuster. The point of a filibuster should be to seek time for gathering public support.

It now requires 2/3 vote of the senate to halt a filibuster. It has been suggested that after 7 days, that that 67% qualification should be reduced each week of the filibuster by 2%.
The Democratic Party refrained from debating the federal budget and taxes on to the floors of both houses prior to the 2010 elections. Democrats’ behavior was cowardly and politically foolish. I changed my registration from Democrat to the Green Party but I really do not share their priorities.

For a half century I voted for Democrats in every general election and failed to vote in very few primary elections. Voting for the Green Party’s candidate was the only opportunity to express my complete opposition to Republicans and dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party.

The U.S. Senate cannot change their rules until January, 2015; Harry Reid blew it. If I’m then still alive in 2015, I will then consider re-registering and voting for Democrats.

Respectfully, Supposn
 
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Oct 2012
4,429
1,084
Louisville, Ky
I pretty much agree with everything stated...Harry Reid is a freakin' pansy for missing the opportunity to do something.
 
Jul 2009
5,893
474
Port St. Lucie
I pretty much agree with everything stated...Harry Reid is a freakin' pansy for missing the opportunity to do something.

Reid? It's the whole damn party. Then you have the Repubs being held hostage by foaming at the mouth reactionaries that Boehner refuses to purge.
 
Mar 2011
746
160
Rhondda, Cymru
'Mob' is a reactionary synonym for 'majority'. Are you against majority rule?
 
Dec 2012
554
34
United States
Yes, I've been through this cycle of compaint several times. Changes to the filibuster are always suggested when Republicans are the minority in the Senate. Not unlike voter District gerrymandering that only requires rule alterations when Republicans are the majority in the House.

Should Partys ever swap majorities in both chambers, threads like this won't exist anymore. Carry on.
 
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Mar 2011
746
160
Rhondda, Cymru
Yes, I've been through this cycle of compaint several times. Changes to the filibuster are always suggested when Republicans are the minority in the Senate. Not unlike voter District gerrymandering that only requires rule alterations when Republicans are the majority in the House.

Should Partys ever swap majorities in both chambers, threads like this won't exist anymore. Carry on.

Well, I'm against your gerrymandering, which produces cranky extremism. I should, myself, be happy to see the Republican saboteurs arrested and hanged, but I suppose you can't see the obvious logic of that, having based your Republic on treachery in the first place. Why not encourage the nutters to prove their freedom by shooting themselves rather than accept majority voting?
 
Oct 2012
4,429
1,084
Louisville, Ky
Reid? It's the whole damn party. Then you have the Repubs being held hostage by foaming at the mouth reactionaries that Boehner refuses to purge.

Boehner has no real options...he has no purge power, as the American people get to do that.


And, I agree that the whole party sux....unfortunately they are far from alone in this.
 
Last edited:
Dec 2012
554
34
United States
Well, I'm against your gerrymandering, which produces cranky extremism. I should, myself, be happy to see the Republican saboteurs arrested and hanged, but I suppose you can't see the obvious logic of that, having based your Republic on treachery in the first place. Why not encourage the nutters to prove their freedom by shooting themselves rather than accept majority voting?

Only cranky extremism when Republicans engage in it, Democrats ruled the House for 40 years used it effectively and not a word was uttered. To the victor go the spoils, but the complaints fall on deaf ears. Sorry.
 
Oct 2012
4,429
1,084
Louisville, Ky
Yes, I've been through this cycle of compaint several times. Changes to the filibuster are always suggested when Republicans are the minority in the Senate. Not unlike voter District gerrymandering that only requires rule alterations when Republicans are the majority in the House.

Should Partys ever swap majorities in both chambers, threads like this won't exist anymore. Carry on.

Uh.....yeah.

"
Senator Mitch McConnell once was a big proponent of a plan to outright end the filibuster back in 2005, because out of over two hundred Republican judges that were nominated, a handful were blocked by Democrats.
Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell said yesterday that Republicans have enough votes to invoke the “nuclear option” to limit Democrats’ ability to stall by filibuster consideration of President Bush’s nominees for federal appeals courts. “I never announce my whip count.
"But I’m telling you, there’s no doubt in my mind — and I’m a pretty good counter of votes — that we have the votes we need,” the Kentucky Republican said. “And that step will be taken sometime in the near future at the determination of the majority leader.”
Mitch McConnell Supported Filibuster Reform in 2005 To Boost Republican Judges | Crooks and Liars


Obviously...they all want it to go away when it is used against them.
 
Jul 2009
5,893
474
Port St. Lucie
Boehner has no real options...he has no purge power, as the American people get to do that.


And, I agree that the whole party sux....unfortunately they are far from alone in this.

Boehner has the power to purge his party, all he has to do is eject the offenders from any Repub backed caucuses they belong to and strip them of any committee memberships they have. If they don't take the hint and leave the party, he could then issue impeachment charges (which he has the votes for, the TP crazies are a minority and their ability to prevent a supermajority is the source of their power), the Senate wouldn't hesitate to convict and it would be done with (and the remaining Repubs would never question his authority again). Alas while we have no shortage of blood suckers in Congress nobody there is a cutthroat.
 
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Aug 2010
336
60
Cliffside Park, NJ
Within the forum group “Defending the Truth” >
Political Issues > Civil Rights > Freedom of Speech forum, I posted this same topic:
“Filibuster-vs-tyranny-mob”.
A member, JimmyB wrote this response:

[“I can see that, old school filibuster as in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. The technical filibuster can be a bit much and a little too easy.
The Senate was created to be the slow deliberative body. This was an exchange between Washington and Jefferson:

"Why," said Washington, "did you just now pour that coffee into your saucer before drinking it?"

"To cool it," said Jefferson; "my throat is not made of brass."

"Even so," said Washington, "we pour our legislation into the Senatorial saucer to cool it”.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/faculty/f...ummer.2010.doc ].
The quote’s within Page 11 of the link entitled “Second Opinions” with the reference # 36 leading to:
Thomas Wentworth Higginson, The Birth of a Nation, 68 HARPER’S NEW MONTHLY MAG. 238, 242 (1884). For the apocryphal character of the anecdote, see RESPECTFULLY QUOTED 60 (Suzy Platt, ed., 1992).

Respectfully, Supposn
 
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