Online Filibuster Round Up 1.12.11
Dave Johnson
Online Action
Call-In, Act Now: Tell your Senators: End Abuse of the Filibuster
http://www.actnowny.org/2011/01/11/tell-your-senators-end-abuse-of-the-filibuster/
Call Senator Chuck Schumer at (202) 224-6542 and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand at (202) 224-4451 today and tell them that you want to see basic filibuster reform. Then let us know in the below form that you called.
Around the web…
Tom Chaffin, Opinionator, New York Times: Abe Lincoln and Filibuster Fever
Lincoln’s memory of the South’s filibuster fever, in other words, fueled his opposition to sectional compromise. Restoration of 36” 30’ as the border between slave and free states, he believed, would allow Southern planter interests—intent on bolstering their political stakes in Washington—unlimited license to hunt for new territories in Cuba and other tropical realms.
Clean Technica: Filibuster Reform: Is It on the Way? What does it mean for Cleantech?
Well, as implied above, filibuster reform would mean that in order to stop the U.S. from progressing on energy policy (something beyond giving dirty energy the most subsidies possible) and catching up to China, India, and Europe, who are all blowing past us in the clean energy industry, the job-creation industry of the future and even of today, the minority party in the Senate (currently Republicans) would have to not only have more than 40 Senators blocking it but would have to speak openly to the public about why they are hijacking this country’s economic progress or progress of some other sort (of course, without outright saying as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnel has that “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president“).
Rajiv Tarigopula, Harvard Political Review: In Defense of the Filibuster
http://hpronline.org/hprgument/in-defense-of-the-filibuster/
Forcing senators to become Mr. Smiths in order to filibuster carries little harm, and may indeed be beneficial for the nation; however, disrespecting the sanctity of minority rights in the Senate is utterly unacceptable. The United States Senate must defend the 60-vote cloture threshold, for lowering this margin to 51 votes would give undue power to a simple majority. As Saint Bernard of Clairvaux cautioned, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. To our Senate: do not allow the upcoming filibuster reform to serve as a classic embodiment of this warning for generations to come. To fellow citizens, Democrats and Republicans alike: reject Professor Zelizer’s overly majoritarian call to arms. Well known public intellectuals such as Mr. Zelizer should not be advocating for proposals which carry such potentially disastrous consequences for our national legislature. For the sake of the nation, in the name of tradition, today’s filibuster as an institution must continue to endure.
Willamette Week: Senate Reform: Wyden Takes up Merkley’s Fight, Targets Secret Holds
Wyden is targeting secret holds—a rule whereby a single senator, acting in secret, can hold up virtually any bill, resolution or nomination. Critics maintain that secret holds are a significant cause of the deadlock that has brought popular approval of Congress to an all-time low.