Democrats were reportedly unable to pass their welfare-state expansion legislation with a simple majority. They have reportedly rescinded the Build back Better bill for the year.
Now, prepare for the entire left-wing infrastructure—politicians as well as the establishment press—to pivot hard from the fake “social safety net” bill to the fake “voting rights” bill, which will quickly become the most vital piece of legislation in the history of the republic.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who not long ago heralded the mere framework of Build Back Better as “by far the most significant piece of legislation ever passed in the world,” told reporters that it was now more important to get a “voting rights” bill through the Senate.
The “Jim Crow 2.0” smear—aimed at the Twittersphere, because there isn’t a single competitive race in 2022 in which “voting rights” attacks are going to make a difference—will only succeed in further corroding confidence in elections.
The demagogic lie that “democracy” is under attack in states that employ basic standards of voter integrity is an emotional appeal that does not stand up to scrutiny. This is a debate Republicans should embrace.
Democrats can continue to treat voter ID requirements as if it were poll taxes. However, most Americans support the standard which, incidentally, was only in existence for a few short years before the 2020 election chaos.
That said, the ginned-up “voting rights” emergency is also meant to continue laying the groundwork for blowing up the legislative filibuster. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va.—who participated in more than 300 filibusters during the Donald Trump years and who signed a letter in 2017 imploring then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., to preserve the “existing rules, practices, and traditions” of the filibuster, and only a couple of months ago was criticizing former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., for attacking the procedure—came out in favor of eliminating the legislative filibuster today.
Here, too, it’s highly doubtful that moderates such as Sens. Joe Manchin, D.-W.Va., and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz.—or even a number of other low-lying moderates—would help blow up a Senate norm to placate the hard left.
Manchin has been asked about “reforming” the filibuster about a bazillion times, and in each instance, to the consternation of progressives on Twitter, he’s replied with the same answer: No.
Indeed, even if shameless hypocrites such as Warner were successful in killing the filibuster, it’s unclear that Senate Democrats would be able to find the votes to pass an H.R. 1-type “voting rights” bill, which would not only override hundreds of existing laws, but compel states to count mail-in votes 10 days after Election Day to allow ballot harvesting, to allow felons to vote, to ban basic voter-ID laws, and to create councils to redraw districts (all the while undercutting free speech rights with a slew of new election regulations).
The Senate Democrats would almost certainly be forced to pass a diluted voting rights bill. However, this would likely face challenges in court by many states. Are red state Democrats willing or able to give up a long-standing Senate standard for, if possible, partisan gain?
Court-packing is also back on track, as well as advocating for the destruction of the filibuster. In anticipation of Build back Better being abandoned this year Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has endorsed an illiberal court packing scheme.
Although the chances of the Senate degrading the judiciary is slim, it is possible. These are issues and debates that politicians (myself included) may welcome, but they don’t register in polls that measure American voters’ priorities.
These positions are simply meant to highlight the radicalism of many modern Democrats, who are not allowed to rail about Trump every day. The more we get to the 2022 midterms the easier it will be to pass reconciliation legislation. It has been less popular the more Democrats try to sell it.
It is almost certain that it will not be popular in the 2022 districts that are important. Instead, Democrats decided to win the Twitter vote.
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