Republicans are known for fighting hard for their beliefs and using political power to the maximum possible degree. Democrats, the stereotype goes, are wimps who fight with one hand tied behind their back, when they even bother to fight at all.
For the millions of disillusioned voters who question whether it’s worth bothering to vote for Democratic politicians, some Senate Democrats are confirming their worst fears. Democrats Contemplate How To Forfeit Their Power Upon Regaining The Senate, reports the Huffington Post:
After watching Senate Republicans lower the threshold for confirming a Supreme Court justice in order to vote Neil Gorsuch onto the court, Senate Democrats are openly talking about making it harder for themselves to do the same, if and when they regain power.
Over the past few days, a number of Democratic lawmakers have said they’d be open to bringing back the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees.
“When the Democrats return to the majority and capture the presidency ― which we will, that day is going to arrive ― we will restore the 60-vote margin,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) told MSNBC on Monday.
This is worse than expecting Republicans to play by the old rules of the Senate “gentleman’s club” and preemptively backing down from a fight. This is even worse than knowing that Lucy is going to pull the football out from under your foot and lining up for another kick anyway.
What this is — which is far, far worse — is refusing to exercise political power under the rules of the game. The Senate now requires only 51 votes to confirm a Supreme Court nominee. Republicans have already used those new rules to get what they want, following the demands of the voters who elected them — the very purpose of representative democracy.
If Democrats do not do accordingly when power returns to their hands, and instead voluntarily prevent themselves from confirming presidential nominees by majority rule, they will be guilty of utter betrayal of their voters. They will be guilty of letting Republicans continue to rule, regardless of the voters’ choice to remove from the GOP the power of governance.
If such so-called Democrats expect to continue to lead this party, I think they should expect a fierce challenge in the primaries. Democratic voters should pull the football of political power right out from under their feet — a football they seem never to want to kick anyway — and send them careening into retirement.