Don’t Believe the Hype – or the Conventional Wisdom: The Filibuster is a Real Threat to Democracy in America
July 6, 2021
“In the United States though, the filibuster has made it so that far-right politicians can get elected and stay in office for decades because their unpopular policies are never passed. As a result, instead of learning that voters don’t support their ideas and being forced to move toward the center, Republican voters have become increasingly radicalized by the fact that their legislators fail to make the conservative paradise of their dreams a reality.”
“Trump and McConnell have vastly different means, but their goal is the same: to make democracy completely dysfunctional and distribute wealth upward.”
“Republicans will never help voting rights because their political power depends on disenfranchising millions of Americans.”
Recently, a friend wrote to me and asked why the Democrats are not getting rid of the filibuster to protect voting rights. I know this is something that a lot of people are confused about – particularly folks who worked hard and donated money to end the authoritarian rule of the GOP and prevent a fascist takeover of the government. It seems like some Democratic Senators do not appreciate the work people put in and why they did it. It’s not just frustrating, but it threatens the future electoral prospects for the Democratic Party in two ways: (1) they are letting democracy’s opponents (otherwise known as today’s Republican Party) make rules to stop people from voting and overturn democratic election results and (2) it makes a lot of rank-and-file supporters (including me) wonder what the point was of supporting them in the first place.
I don’t care what the media, centrist Democrats, and Republicans say, 2020 was not just about getting rid of Trump. It was about restoring our democracy and enacting a progressive agenda for the future. Reducing the election to a popularity contest against an awful human being and incompetent manager like Trump is the lazy way out for the media and centrists while being exactly what McConnell wants folks to accept.
So, why are the Democrats blowing it on the filibuster. In a nutshell, it’s a function of some Democrats "believing their own BS." This phenomenon in politics – which I have discussed before – is not just a right-wing thing. It’s a big part of neo-liberal thinking. And more than a few Democrats are neo-liberals. We usually call them centrists.
More specifically, here are few answers to my friend’s question.
First, some Democrats hold onto the belief that bipartisanship is important and attainable. Polling shows it’s not important and experience shows it’s not attainable. Bipartisanship in the sense of appealing to the public at large and forging compromise is not what politicians mean by bipartisanship - at least not when they are weaponizing it like the GOP is. No one cares whether legislation gets votes from both parties if that legislation is popular.
Second, centrist Democrats continue to think the country is more conservative than it is, and that Republicans represent that conservatism better than centrist Democrats. Or it's more of believing the political "conventional wisdom," which typically embraces the idea that Americans are conservatives. So, centrist Democrats think doing something Republicans oppose is going to be a problem for them with their constituents. However, despite Biden losing West Virginia by 39 points, polling shows that West Virginians support the things like the For the People Act (HR 1) that Republicans are holding up via the filibuster.
So, the first two reasons - while perhaps genuinely held - are also just not true. Bipartisanship is not important to Americans and Republicans don’t care about it at all as long as they win. Polling shows that the Democratic Senators supporting the filibuster are actually at odds with their constituents – even in a deep red state like West Virginia. Then there is the third reason which always gets liberals nervous about getting rid of the filibuster: “we won't be able to use it when we are in the minority.” That's just nonsense these days. Nonsense.
Why? The filibuster already does not apply to court appointments. And the Republicans do not care about passing legislation. The only policy the right wing cares about is tax cuts, which they can do - and have done - through the budget reconciliation process (which only needs a simple majority). So right now, the filibuster rules work perfectly for Republicans, but make no actual difference in practice for Democrats. This is why your Republican friends talk up how bad it will be for Democrats when they are again in the minority - because it’s not true but it easily worries liberals in a way that gets them to act against their interests.
There is one last reason that I think makes it difficult: too many Democrats really do not understand what Republicans are these days. Democrats like Sen. Dianne Feinstein (CA) seem to think there is no systemic problem in the Senate and they just need to work harder to persuade their "friends" across the aisle. This last reason might be the most maddening. It is, in fact, an elitist position that only members of the most exclusive club in America could seriously believe.
One thing that is weird to me in all of this is the filibuster does not have to be eliminated permanently. The Democrats could just vote to eliminate for this one (or other) reason(s). Voting rights could be a temporary or permanent exemption without eliminating the filibuster completely. The filibuster is just a Senate rule and it can change its rules with a simple majority. There is no Constitutional obstacle to changing the filibuster rule whenever a majority of the Senate chooses to do so.
Senate Democrats have to face the reality: voters want to see that Democrats can govern. McConnell is counting on them honoring the filibuster rule over democracy and accepting defeat after defeat. Do not expect voters to reward Democrats by sticking to a ridiculous rule that prevents the majority from enacting popular legislation.