sherrilyn ifill is exactly on the money with this

[orleans]

Link to tweet

Manchin is Manchin. But what kind of healthy democracy is structured in a way that can allow one man elected by 290,000 voters in one of the least populous states to thwart the agenda of his party and the President who was elected with 81 million votes. We need structural change.

[Hoyt]

1. That structural change won't come anytime soon, unless Democrats

blow out GOPers in 2022. That’s depressing.

[elleng]

2. We need structural change.

[Skittles]

3. it fucking stinks

[brush]

4. The most obvious change needed is to ditch the filibuster.

Next would be doing away with the electoral college.

[dchill]

5. The two things we evidently CANNOT do!

That would be the END OF DEMOCRACY!

[brush]

7. Explain pls. Ditching the filibuster would leave...

a simple majority wins in the Senate just as in the House. How can you call that an end to democracy. Democracy is where majority rules, remember. It doesn't mean a super majority like the filibuster...which is not in the Constitution. It's just a Senate rule adopted years after the Constitution was written.

Now explain how that would be the end of democracy. Please explain asap. I doubt that you can.

[Stinky The Clown]

9. I think the sarcasm thingie was omitted at the end of that post.

[dchill]

20. I shouldn't need it. Or so I thought.

Majority rule IS democracy. Anything else is not.

[Stinky The Clown]

41. That is not a safe assumption in this neighborhood

[dchill]

42. True. My experience is increased.

[aggiesal]

8. I think you forgot the Sarcasm thingee. n/t

[brush]

11. You feel the sarcasm gif is not needed because it's so obvious?

[orleans]

16. appears some needed to see it b/c it appears you took that post seriously nt

[brush]

18. I did. IMO it isn't that obvious as trolls visit here quite often...

and considering the actions of two prominent Dem senators who have gutted the Biden agenda, there are some so-called Dems who don't feel the same way about the filibuster as most Democrats do.

[dchill]

23. "Democrats" who believe in the filibuster...

...fail to understand or believe in the definition of democracy. One person, one vote, majority rules.

[orleans]

24. when i see a post that i think might be a bit iffy (or the poster)

i check to see who the poster is, then i look at their post count, and then i'll click on their profile to see when they signed up here. (the poster, in this case, has over 28,000 posts and came aboard in 2004.) maybe that might help if you are suspicious someone is a troll. i figure no troll is gonna have a high post count or be a member for years.

[aggiesal]

30. Sorry, I responded to the wrong post ...

I agree with you.
Both need to be ditched.

[dchill]

21. Sorry. I don't feel it was necessary.

[aggiesal]

33. You feel ditching the Filibuster & the Electoral College would end Democracy? ...

That was serious?

Getting rid of the Electoral College is obvious. The Democratic Presidential nominee has won the popular vote in 7 of the last 8 elections. Yet the EC awarded the Presidency to the Republican Presidential nominee in 2000 & 2016, losing 4 SCOTUS seats.

Keeping the Filibuster is Minority Rule. The Senate was designed by our forefathers as majority rule (50% +1), not 60 to get anything done. I don't mind keeping the Filibuster if the 1 Senator that filibusters a bill, stands and occupies the floor to defend their position, not this permanent 60 votes that we currently have. Personally I don't want the Filibuster.

Where is the Democracy in either of these?

[dchill]

39. I was NOT SERIOUS!

The filibuster and the Electoral College are deliberate brakes on democracy. In my mind, everyone here knows that.

[brush]

43. Obviously some took it seriously. You can tell from some of the responses.

Just include the gif as there are trolls about.

[aggiesal]

44. So stating, you forgot the sarcasm thingee was accurate. ...

I'm glad to know you were not serious.

Have a great day.

[qazplm135]

10. totally agree on the electoral college

there'd be Dem Presidents for the next twenty years.

Filibuster I think is more of a targeted thing. Carve out an exception for voting rights and reduce advise and consent to simply voting up or down on all nominees.

[gab13by13]

12. Never get rid of the Electoral College,

it takes 2/3 of Congress and 2/3 of state legislatures to abolish it.

[brush]

19. Do you actually mean never get rid of it, or we'll never...

get rid of it because it's so diffcult to get rid of it?

[notinkansas]

27. And make it a talking filibuster.

If somebody wants to gum up the works, make them have some skin in the game.

[moondust]

6. Absolutely.

But what to do?

Weight each Congressperson's vote based on the number of voters or residents in their House district or state for the Senate? GQP would never go along with that but if it did somehow pass they would immediately look for ways to cheat with gerrymandering, etc.

[Rhiannon12866]

13. Twitter followup/replies:

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[orleans]

17. thanks for all those tweets nt

[NJCher]

32. Yes, thank you, rhiannon

It is good to see we at DU are not alone in our disgust over the unfairness of it all.

[Duppers]

50. Bravo !! These are GREAT Replies!!

Thank you!!! 🙏

Another one..

Link to tweet

[JI7]

14. Exactly, our system is the problem and it gives right wing states with low populations

more say than others. And to get change requires those same people to agree to it .

[ancianita]

15. Except for one thing: we were always TOLD we had a healthy democracy. We didn't.

We had a for profit capitalizing on free labor and the starvation rations served up as business fat cats built wealth for their families and descendants on American backs. Worked us to death in every sector of the economy. Free domestic labor of women, free labor of children; today, free prison labor with no health benefits is a massive industry.

Corporations ate at the soul of democracy by extracting every penny possible from the trauma and suffering of Black Americans and other non-whites, creating new inter-generational wealth streams. Unjust laws lobbied with legalized bribery by Big Corp, corrections officers and systems, the Fraternal Order of Police and other racist groups promoting corporate predatory practices and all manner of misery.

The Immigration Industrial Complex criminalizes undocumenteds (all of colonists were undocumenteds for 200 years until the mid-1800's); private corporations have constantly benefitted since WWII from the machinery of detention of migrants and refugees, the trafficking of babies and children and separation of families.

from David A Love in Ibram X Kendi's Four Hundred Souls (2021)

Who told us we had a healthy democracy?
Every single thing we've seen as weak since 2015, our party should have indexed by now, and decided to
a) not just break down Build Back Better into separate up or down future votes, but also
b) write new laws that close loopholes, codify new laws -- voting laws, Roe, campaign finance, etc. -- that explicitly state the federal agencies that exact timely enforcement toward lawbreakers being charged -- especially corporations -- and enforce corporate charter dissolution -- corporate death -- for death and traumatic harm caused to humans.

Only a solidly committed administration can get this done. We have three years ahead to make sure we can even legally get four more.

[Jon King]

22. America is not even close to a democracy.

Nothing about the system of government is a democracy at all. The Senate, the electoral college, the rigging of districts, the corporate donations without limit.

America should never, ever be called a democracy, because it simply is not.

[orleans]

25. apparently it is a constitutional federal republic

While often categorized as a democracy, the United States is more accurately defined as a constitutional federal republic. What does this mean? “Constitutional” refers to the fact that government in the United States is based on a Constitution which is the supreme law of the United States. The Constitution not only provides the framework for how the federal and state governments are structured, but also places significant limits on their powers. “Federal” means that there is both a national government and governments of the 50 states. A “republic” is a form of government in which the people hold power, but elect representatives to exercise that power.

https://ar.usembassy.gov/education-culture/irc/u-s-government/

[Drunken Irishman]

26. It's not one man, tho.

It's also an entire Republican Party.

[notinkansas]

28. Yeah. Why does that part always get left out of the conversation?

[orleans]

29. because it's understood the way the R party is that they won't do

anything but obstruct dems and certainly nothing beneficial for the welfare of the general public.

it's an automatic assumption that they are going to be assholes about bills dems are trying to pass.
i guess we expect more (such as don't be an asshole obstructionist) from a democrat when we're talking about bills that will be beneficial to a majority of the population

who knows?

[Drunken Irishman]

34. It's still an issue and one we knew would be an issue when we won those two GA seats.

Manchin is only powerful because he, and 50 other Republican senators, step up their opposition to anything.

[orleans]

35. yeah...i was wondering what lisa murkowski is up to lately. maybe she'd like to step up to the plate

[Drunken Irishman]

48. Right. Or the deeply troubled Collins.

[orleans]

51. just watched retired dem senator bob kerrey on msnbc (lawrence o'donnell)

and he was talking about the 50 republican senators that aren't debating this bbb bill. he mentioned susan collins, how she's on the coast and the effects of what will be happening there re climate change.

interesting interview

[Drunken Irishman]

52. It's sad to see what the Republicans have become.

20 years ago, you'd at least be able to work with these Republicans.

But then we went and elected Obama and they've never been the same since.

[Meowmee]

31. It is not a healthy democracy

And the system was deeply flawed from the start to have allowed any of this to happen.

[DallasNE]

36. Manchin Is drunk On Power n/t

[Poiuyt]

37. The 50 Republicans are also to blame

Why don't they care about America?

[malaise]

38. K & R

for truth

[Wounded Bear]

40. It's baked into the Constitution and the rules of the Senate...

Senate rules are easier to change, if less effective.

[marieo1]

45. Right On

I don't get it either and I am damned mad!!

[Joinfortmill]

46. Amen to that

[NurseJackie]

49. The same could be said about any low-population state.