Albuquerque Journal

It’s true: A vote for Biden will be a vote for one-party rule

- MARC THIESSEN Columnist

WASHINGTON — Democrats say “democracy is on the ballot” in November. They are right — because a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for a one-party state.

That’s not hyperbole. If Biden wins, Democrats will likely keep the House and retake the Senate, though without the 60-vote majority needed to break a Republican filibuster. That means the only check on their absolute power will be the GOP minority. They are threatenin­g to get rid of that last check by abolishing the legislativ­e filibuster — eliminatin­g the Senate minority’s ability to delay or block legislatio­n. If they do, they can then use their unchecked power not just to ram through their agenda, but also to pack the courts, pack the Senate, pack the House and pack the electoral college.

Sen. Christophe­r Coons, D-Delaware and Biden’s closest Senate ally who during the Trump presidency has led the effort to protect the filibuster, has made clear that Democrats will “not stand idly by for four years and watch the Biden administra­tion’s initiative­s blocked at every turn.” Never mind that they used the filibuster to block President Donald Trump’s initiative­s at every turn — from border wall funding to police reform and pandemic relief legislatio­n. When Republican­s try to use that same tool, Democrats will most likely abolish it.

This would give Democrats the ability to pass anything — on climate, energy, health care, taxes, immigratio­n — without compromise or concession­s. They can use the pandemic as justificat­ion for a recordbrea­king spending spree and unpreceden­ted expansion of government.

But that’s not the real threat. As the 2022 midterms approach, Republican­s will have their first chance to win back the Senate and stop the legislativ­e juggernaut. That’s when things get really dangerous — because Democrats can use their new power to stop that from happening, by expanding their control over all three branches of government.

First, they can pack the courts. Even before the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the left was never going to be content with simply replacing liberal justices, because that would not change the ideologica­l makeup of the court. They intend to follow through on their threats to “restructur­e” the court by adding justices to install a liberal majority. But they won’t stop there. They will also pack the federal circuit courts of appeal, neutralizi­ng all of Trump’s judicial appointmen­ts and restoring liberal majorities.

They can pack the Senate. They can make District of Columbia a state, creating two more safe Democratic Senate seats. (And) admit Puerto Rico, adding two more seats. This would make it nearly impossible for Republican­s to regain the majority.

Next, they could pack the House, and with it the electoral college. As Martin Gold, former counsel to two Senate majority leaders, explains, “you can’t change the electoral college without a constituti­onal amendment, but you can by statute change the size of the House of Representa­tives.” Since House seats are apportione­d by population, populous blue states would gain the most — and because the size of the electoral college is determined by the size of each state’s congressio­nal delegation, this would increase the number of bluestate electors as well.

This would build a firewall against the inevitable conservati­ve backlash, making it difficult for Republican­s to take back the House, the Senate and the presidency. Even if they managed to do so, they would be unable to undo much of the damage. Once confirmed, judges have lifetime appointmen­ts. There is no precedent for revoking statehood or reducing the size of the House. Fundamenta­l changes to the structure of our democratic institutio­ns will be put in place by party-line vote without compromise or consensus.

No one party has held such absolute power in the modern era ...

This is why, despite Trump’s urging, Republican­s refused to abolish the filibuster, protecting the right of the obstrepero­us Democratic minority to stymie their agenda. Now, after repeatedly availing themselves of that right, Democrats are threatenin­g to eliminate it — and a few recalcitra­nt moderates won’t be able to stop them ....

What this means is Biden is running on a lie. He promises to restore normalcy and bipartisan­ship, but his election would usher in the opposite, a dictatorsh­ip of the left . ...

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