The Senate and House versions of the Republican tax bill would reverse efforts to modernize the energy system and reduce greenhouse emissions.

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  • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    74·
    6 days ago

    I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Feel free to downvote me if you want, but downvotes don’t change the truth.

    The filibuster is an absolutely necessary evil. Yeah, it sucks when the GOP use it to block Democrat policies. But it’s also been used by Democrats to stop the worst of GOP’s policies as well. Dems have been asking for the end of the filibuster for years now, and people like me have been saying that eventually the GOP would return to power and shove it right down our throats. I believe it was Mitch McConnell who warned Democrats of exactly that when they voted to remove the filibuster for judge confirmations. And then the GOP took control and we’ve been paying for it ever since, with McConnell saying “What did you expect? We told you we would do this.” the entire time.

    And the same thing would happen here. As bad as this Trump administration has been (and it has been BAD), imagine how much worse it would be if there were no filibuster. Even if Chuck Schumer had a spine, it wouldn’t matter. He’d have no voice that would be heard. They’d have no power. No way to stop the GOP from doing literally anything they wanted. Their only purpose would be to show up and watch. To make sure that there was a quorum. That’s it.

    Granted, they’re not doing a whole lot of anything now. But the filibuster is a tool that we can use to at least try to stop the worst of the worst. And it’s basically the only tool we’ve got left. It may not do much, but the last thing you want to do is willingly give that last weapon over to your enemy.

    We’ve already been down this road already, and have been paying for it ever since. The 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court and Trump flooding the federal courts with his hand-picked cronies are a direct result of this. Why do people think it’s a good idea to do it again?

      • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.worldEnglish
        10·
        6 days ago

        Yes. This bullshit where a back-stabbing little “centrist” asshole like Joe Lieberman could raise a pinky finger and shit-can something like the public option [1] is nonsense.

        At least make motherfuckers like him WORK for it. I want REAL filibusters to be required to have such a thing. Not the mere mention of someone indicating that they would filibuster something.

      • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.worldEnglish
        62·
        6 days ago

        Never said they were. In fact, I specifically said “Granted, they’re not doing a whole lot of anything right now”. But just because this group of Democrat leaders are feckless morons doesn’t mean we just willingly hand it over to Republicans and prevent possible future Democrat leaders from at least having the option to use it in the future.

        The only people who benefit from ending the filibuster are Republicans.

        • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
          3·
          5 days ago

          Ending the filibuster would need to be accompanied by a rapid plan to essentially erase the Republican Party in its current form: mass political education, deep and broad electoral reforms, vast increases in small-d democratic participation, and probably many more radical reforms that would essentially rewrite the country.

          But this would probably also erase the Democratic Party too, so they’d never do it.