By William Haupt III [Tennessee Watchdog Journalist, Columnist, Author, and Citizen Legislator via The Center Square]
Photo Credit: Public
Domain
“They say that women talk too much. If you
have worked in Congress you know that the filibuster was invented by men.” –
Clare Boothe Luce
When our founders penned our Constitution, they knew that “democracy was far more important than just counting noses.” Knowing the fragility of human nature, they predicted every inevitable compromise people would be willing to make for security at the cost of freedom. They knew our Constitution must be chartered to limit government to protect the people from being abused by it.
The uniqueness of this masterful declaration is having
the ability to agree to disagree. If we chose to engage in combat, we have
rules that allow us that prerogative. We have countless tools in our arsenal
when we combat these legislative fisticuffs. One such piece of ammunition is
the filibuster.
In 1805, Aaron Burr wrongly challenged a Senate rule that
would have made prolonged debate on legislation impossible. This gave birth to
the filibuster. Whether Burr changed history more by out-dueling Alexander
Hamilton or unwittingly laying the groundwork for the Senate filibuster is
still debated. But the filibuster has remained a valuable part of senatorial
tradition for two centuries.
Since the Senate gives an equal voice to each state, the
filibuster is a valued resource to assure that all states have the opportunity
to deliberate equally. It empowers each state with the same political capital
and it enables the minority party to remain engaged in legislation as long as
they wish.
“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on
occasions.” – Thomas Jefferson
Frank Capra’s 1939 film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”
exemplifies how one naive man, Jimmy Stewart, AKA Jefferson Smith, ends up in
the Senate and fights corruption with the filibuster. This is a perfect visual,
nonpartisan metaphor that shows how one man can hold Congress at bay until they
make changes in corrupt legislation. The movie is ostentatiously devoid of
political affiliations.
The Washington Press Club screened the film at
Constitution Hall with a number of congressmen, senators, and Supreme Court
justices in attendance. Frank Capra claimed that over a third of them walked
out before the film ever ended. Senate Majority Leader, Democrat Alben Barkley,
said the movie was “silly and stupid” and complained that it “made the Senate
look like a bunch of crooks.”
Joseph Kennedy, U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom,
sent a cable to Capra claiming that “Mr. Smith ridiculed democracy and would do
untold harm to America’s prestige in Europe.” He begged Capra to withdraw it
from European distribution. But Capra aired it anyway.
“I was the enemy of the major studio. I believed in one
man and one film. There are no rules in filmmaking.” – Frank Capra
Most people don’t know how filibusters are used today.
Senators use procedural delays, or simply “silent filibusters,” expressing the
intention to delay and debate legislation to the Senate majority leader.
Fearing lack of support, he doesn’t bring the bill to the floor until there is
bipartisan consent.
Senators of all stripes have always been sensitive to
changing the filibuster rule. They are always aware the majority becoming the
minority is one election away. That in itself is a sobering thought! All
attempts to end the filibuster have traditionally led to outrage and
consternation by the minority.
As soon as the final tally in Georgia’s special election
awarded the Senate to Democrats, President Joe Biden declared war on the
filibuster. He claimed it was “a relic of the Jim Crow era!” Yet Biden used it
himself for years in the Senate. Al Sharpton said anyone who supports it is a
racist. But it was the Democrats, not the GOP, who abused it to prevent the
passage of Congressional Republican Civil Rights legislation.
“The filibuster is a dangerous tool that the minority
party uses as a means to barter.” – Joe Biden
House progressives Cori Bush (D-MO), Ro Khanna (D-CA),
Eric Swalwell (D-CA), and Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ed Markey (D-MA)
and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris all want to ban the filibuster. They say it
prevents the passage of federalizing elections, green energy legislation and
strict climate change laws. They are calling Democrats who are against this,
enemies of the party.
Sen. Dick Durbin recently said. “We must stop holding
this Senate hostage. We can no longer allow arcane rules to block the will of
the people. I urge my colleagues to defend democracy by making the changes
needed.” Yet in 2018, Durbin, told Huffington Post the filibuster was a
necessity to “protect the voice of the people. And making changes to the
filibuster would destroy democracy.”
Democrats filibustered the GOP when they had a trifecta
with the House, Senate and presidency. They filibustered a COVID-relief bill
and Tim Scott’s criminal-justice bill; two of many. The Senate GOP had to end
debate on judicial nominees and break filibusters 314 times under President
Donald Trump.
Every other president in U.S. history has faced only a
combined 244 roll-call votes over a filibuster.
Progressives claim they can’t pass bills to fund roads,
protect migrant children or to end election fraud but there are no such bills
in Congress. Their current infrastructure, immigration and voting bills are
stuffed with policies that empower the government and abridge states rights.
“It is terrifying to think what so many voters will allow
these progressives to do to them.” – Sen. John Kennedy, R-LA
The left has shown no inclination they wish to work
within the established parameters of Congress. In 2017, 30 Democrats signed a
letter written by Republican Sen. Susan Collins defending the filibuster as an
imperative tool in maintaining the “deliberative” composure of the legislature.
Now they have control of both chambers the filibuster is anti-democratic and a
racist Republican tactic?
Napoleon once said, “In politics, an absurdity is not a
handicap.” Led by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the party that abused the
filibuster for years to prevent the passage of Civil Rights legislation now
claims the filibuster is a racist rule? This is the party that forced a $2
trillion progressive wish list through Congress without a single GOP vote? The
left’s desire to ban the filibuster is to silence the voice of half of America.
There are few if any legal prerequisites for holding
office in America, and Jefferson Smith set a stellar example of why we need
less career politicians and more Mr. Smiths in Washington. He is an iconic
small town guy, picked by the political machine as least likely to upset the
establishment. By the time he arrived in Washington, he knew the rules and used
them to benefit his constituents.
This continued hypocritical flip-flopping by the left to
tie everything they do not like to racism should concern all Americans. Every
member of Congress that claims a parliamentary technique is racist because it
prevents them from disenfranchising the minority must be censured. Changing the
rules of the Senate to empower one political party over another is antithetical
to republican democracy.
“Once a government is committed to the principle of
silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down
the path of increasingly repressive measures.” – Harry S. Truman
_______________
About the Author: William
Haupt III is a retired professional journalist, author, and citizen legislator
in California for over 40 years. He got his start working to approve California
Proposition 13. His work also appears in The
Center Square, The
Western Journal, Neighbor Newspapers, KPXJ 21
(Shreveport, LA), Killeen Daily Herald, Aberdeen
American News, InsideNova, Kankakee
Daily Journal, Monterey
County Weekly, Olean
Times Herald, The
Greeneville Sun and more. Follow William
on Twitter @iii_haupt.
https://tennesseeconservativenews.com/democrats-want-to-silence-mr-smith-in-washington/
