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srobertss

(261 posts)
Sun Feb 21, 2021, 06:56 PM Feb 2021

I'm so happy to be wrong, plus two questions about voting rules and legislation

It’s been almost a year since I disengaged after my melodramatic disappointment in the primaries. I was so discouraged that Bernie didn’t make it and now I’m laughing at myself because I love our new president. I think he’s the perfect president for these insane times. I love his wife, his grandchildren, his bomber jacket, his dogs, and when they get a cat, I will love their cat too. I think he’s doing a wonderful job of threading the crazy needle of Washington politics and restoring our position globally. I still prefer Bernie’s politics, but he would have made too much of a target for the GQP.

Anyway, I think I have post trump stress syndrome, because I’m already fretting about 2024. I wondered what it would take to change the rules Congress put in place in 1876 for presidential elections. Instead of throwing the decision to state legislatures in case they couldn’t certify their vote, why not just tally whatever votes are certified and let the popular vote decide. That would have short circuited the shenanigans we saw in January. Would ending the filibuster allow this Congress to change the rules? Has anyone read about whether there is an effort to revamp these rules? It just feels like a failed coup waiting to be tried again.

Also, I read somewhere that the Senate could decide to eliminate the filibuster on just legislation that deals with the 15th amendment, specifically the bill that is being considered to preserve voting rights. That bill would also short circuit a lot of the legislation that is coming at the state level from the GQP. But I can’t remember where I read this now. Does anyone have information on the validity of this idea? I wrote to my senators to support the elimination of the filibuster for this type of legislation, thinking they might be able to move Manchin et al more easily up this hill, rather than eliminating the filibuster altogether. But I’m not even sure this is a legitimate idea.

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I'm so happy to be wrong, plus two questions about voting rules and legislation (Original Post) srobertss Feb 2021 OP
I'm sure that we'll see some changes but I'm leaving the details to our Democratic leaders who abqtommy Feb 2021 #1

abqtommy

(14,118 posts)
1. I'm sure that we'll see some changes but I'm leaving the details to our Democratic leaders who
Sun Feb 21, 2021, 09:07 PM
Feb 2021

are way smarter than I am!

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