Senate Republicans could end the Democrat shutdown today if they dump the filibuster and pass the Continuing CR. I get that many, including ‘Grok contributors, think that’s a bad idea, but I’ve got something of a Steve Bannon approach to this.
Look at what Democrats did under Obama and Biden, with or without the filibuster. They do what they want, when they want, no matter what. Our pining for convention didn’t stop it. And if they get into power again, they will do whatever it takes to destroy everything and everyone who dared oppose them or their swamp creatures.
It will get ugly.
The only possible counter to that is to dump the filibuster, pass the CR, and then leave it dumped. Push all twelve budget bills through with all the defunding of all the crap programs and agencies. Get rid of unnecessary Departments, overturn roadblocks and rules. Make everyone in the federal government outside the Judiciary and Legislative branches answerable to the president. No independent taxpayer-funded agencies, and while you’re at it, there’s no such thing as an NGO if it gets money from the government. Fix it.
Be the left or at least the way they will be if they get another ounce of a majority.
Ram through every single responsible, pro-America, liberty-minded, Constitutional aspect of the Trump agenda into law.
Make America Great Again.
Trump wants it, and deserves it after how Republicans acted in his first term. While doing research for this, I stumbled on this, thanks to Jeff Childers, who got his dump the filibuster post out the door before me. [What? I had an entire website to run before I could finish this.]
It’s not unprecedented. In fact, the filibuster isn’t in the Constitution, it’s a made-up rule in the Senate, as is the cloture rule, and a bunch of other crap that the body is allowed to create or remove as it sees fit. The Senate could vote to make cloture 55 votes, but someone might say filibuster and, henceforth, require the existing cloture rule to be met to change to the new one.
No, they don’t even have to talk anymore. Another rule they made up was the silent filibuster, which, had they not done that, we might be having a different conversation. Making them talk endlessly to maintain a filibuster is not something we should have done away with.
Anyway
There is a downside. It will be sold as tyrannical, and if the economy has not recovered, the midterms could get ugly, but here’s the thing. Our midterm odds are not great, regardless. With few exceptions, the opposing party makes gains. Even a sliver or a hair over the line, and House Dems, for example, will end progress as we know it.
If they needed to, they would blow up the filibuster to undo everything, but it is a lot harder to reconstitute and fund agencies that no longer exist, especially when the President won’t sign off on it. Sure, the entire White House, and everyone who ever said yes to anything they did, will be under investigation, but that slows them down, too.
If you don’t get it done, as much as possible, as soon as possible, what if you never get another shot at it?
Democrats never balk at doing the ugly thing if it gets them closer to their objective.
Republicans need to be equally ruthless, or they will walk away from this historic moment with nothing.
