Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who is challenging Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to be the next Senate majority leader, said Friday he wants to abolish the filibuster and ruled out a potential presidential run in 2028.
Van Hollen, speaking to reporters at the What’s Next conference in Denver, argued that legislation should pass the Senate with simple-majority votes and that the filibuster, which requires senators to muster 60 votes to pass most legislation, is “undemocratic.”
“My personal opinion is that we need democracy in the United States Senate and that means allowing ultimately a majority of senators to answer the call of the American people, so that means 51 votes,” Van Hollen said.
“My personal view has been all along that the filibuster is an antidemocratic — small ‘d’ — provision. It’s not in our Constitution. It was put in there by senators to enhance their power over the power of the people,” he added.
I like the accountability angle. While this is powerful, I’m not so sure about the entire premise of your remaining argument.
Specifically, you note Republicans can easily defund programs, while Democrats need 60 votes to establish them. But eliminating or reducing funding is not always the same as repealing a program.
For example, a future Republican majority might want to:
The filibuster doesn’t just determine which policies can be enacted; it affects how easily every subsequent majority can reverse them.
Bottom line: If Democrats could enact their entire agenda with 51 Senate votes, would they accept Republicans having exactly the same power in two years?
Yes. Because the entire reason we are falling into fascism is that the government can’t get shit done. Gridlock is what’s causing fascism. People feel their regular elected leaders can’t do anything, so they fall for a strong man promising to force change through.
A government that cannot pass necessary policy, one that is trapped forever in gridlock, is one that is inevitably bound for dictatorship.
Let Republican enact their terrible policies. We just saw what happens when Republicans actually manage to enact their agenda - they get massacred in the next election.
And all the stuff you listed could in turn be reversed just as easily with another simple majority vote. The rest of the world gets along just fine without the filibuster. You’re suffering from the delusion of American exceptionalism.
I was with you until the end. I don’t suffer from shit, thanks. Sorry/not sorry you don’t like people pointing out the fallacies in your arguments.
How is what they said wrong? Even if you disagree that you suffer from it, it’s absolutely American exceptionalism to say that only an undemocratic and arcane rule that only the US Senate has is somehow required for democracy.
Never said it was required. You suffer from inability to read. I also already explained how you were wrong, in clear language, at least in one of the many ways.