So it’s not just the senators’ credibility on the line if they fail to provide to all Americans a similar level of health care benefits that they themselves enjoy as senators. It’s the very democratic legitimacy of the body in which they serve.
The Republican Contract on California
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We get to vote, again, on May 19. This time we have a bunch of ballot initiatives that the Republican Party demanded as a condition of reaching a budget “compromise” last winter. The commercial media tell us that most of these measures are failing in polling, but still have a chance at passage. Still have [...]
Specter Dumps GOP; Few Rats Remain on Sinking GOP Ship
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Arlen Specter’s stunning announcement that he is changing parties to become a Democrat is merely the latest example of the how the Republic Party is losing its grip on America. “Since my election in 1980 as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right,” Specter tells reporters, not [...]
Republican Dinosaurs Cling to Power
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When a side that “plays to win” is in the political minority, they assert whatever power they can get. This is the position Republicans, after two elections of solid blue victories, are stuck in at the federal and state level. Shut out of the presidency and the U.S. House of Representatives, the G.O.P. clings to [...]
Eliminate Filibuster and With It the Need to Debate Republicans
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From the pains Democrats take to out-argue and/or to compromise with the fringe minority party called the Republicans you’d think no other course of action was available, specifically you’d have to assume that the filibuster — the power of senators representing 11% of us to block all work by the House and Senate — is [...]
An Open Letter to Harry Reid
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Dear Senator Reid, or more precisely, Dear Senate Majority Leader Reid, Since this is an open letter I will, by necessity, include several definitions and explanations of Senate rules. There are many arcane procedures used by the Senate that complicates our understanding of how things get done or more importantly how things don’t get done [...]
2009: Year of the Filibuster
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by David Swanson – Trying to squeeze any sort of peace on earth out of our government in Washington has been a steep uphill climb for years. For the most part we no longer have representatives in Congress, because of the corruption of money, the weakness of the media, and the strength of parties. There [...]
Throw Joe Under the Bus
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by Denis Campbell – Is it payback time? For two weeks, we’ve watched the Democratic Party leadership shamelessly threaten while pandering to Senator Joe (Judas) Lieberman in the slim hope he will do the honorable thing and accept his punishment and loss of Chairmanship for overtly supporting John McCain.
Senate Dems Race to 60 Seats
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While the Presidential contest gets the most press, the race for control of both houses of the US Congress and state governorships is equally critical to whoever becomes the new President. Sixty in the Senate is such an important number because that is the number of votes required to halt/prevent crippling fillibusters which allow a [...]
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