Attack on voting

[Spongebob]

One thing I didn't think to mention regarding parliamentary procedure is that things like filibuster, cloture and quorum are rules that govern the body. These rules can be changed and have been changed before. They do serve a purpose, but can be frustrating for both sides depending on who has a majority and what they are trying to do. I believe in the case of one side (and this means either) trying to pass laws that limit citizens ability to vote should be unconstitutional, and it is in very specific cases, though those are easily side-stepped. The US went through this sort of thing over half a century ago and yet here it is again. It was the Democrats then, it's Republicans now. Different party but same issue. What OLB doesn't have the capacity to understand is that it is the issue that is important.

Voting is not a clear cut thing; there are many aspects to it. Mostly our government works by representative voting, but some states do a lot of ballot referendums. Those can be even more potent because it bypasses the representation and goes directly to voters, so it's truly a "mob rule" mode of government. Our founding fathers were very concerned with this sort of thing and sought to limit the power of the majority. There's good reason for this, however, there's also good reason to limit what a small minority can do to hold up legislation that is overwhelmingly supported by the population. So right now we have a situation in Texas where the majority is seeking to disenfranchise non-Republican (actually non-WASP) voters. In the 50's we had the reverse in Washington. We had Strom Thurmond filibustering civil rights legislation. But in both cases the goal was the same, limiting the voting of non-whites, and the people pursuing it were the same, racist WASP lawmakers. So, my point to this is to be clear about what is going on and what I oppose so there's no confusion. It doesn't matter to me which party is looking to limit voting rights; I oppose it. And I would oppose any party that sought to limit anyone's right to vote that clearly targets their preferences. I certainly don't support any neo-Nazi group and profoundly wish they would all just pack up and leave, but I don't believe it is constitutional to deny them the right to vote either. If they eventually get what they want and the US becomes the 4th Reich, I'll do what a lot of Germans did in the 1930's and get the fuck out.