Biden should call to end filibuster rule
The shocking speed of the collapse of Afghanistan’s government raises a worrying question: Is democracy unattainable for some cultures or populations? In other words, is Afghanistan a hopeless case that can only be governed by “strong men,” not by majority rule?
Events have shown that only the people of Afghanistan can decide on their form of government. The American government and armed forces never should have tried to install a government in Afghanistan, not even a “democratic” one. As a nation, we have never had the right or the ability to control other sovereign countries. That was the lesson of Vietnam, and we are learning it again now.
When people ask what the war in Afghanistan was for, American leaders and the media should face up to the only answer that explains all the facts, and the misinformation. That is, America has a national war machine that tends to find reasons to stay busy, or even to invent reasons like the mythical WMDs in Iraq. For the United States after 9/11, war became routine.
But as President Biden said recently, the national budget will never again include huge investments in nation-building elsewhere. We will have to commit all possible resources to solving our own country’s problems, like climate change and homelessness.
It is a national disgrace that millions of Americans are in danger of being unhoused – or already evicted – while many states are blocking most of the $46.5 billion in federal relief money for landlords and tenants because of victim-blaming and sheer incompetence. In some states, this is also a voter suppression tactic. Real progress toward affordable housing will depend on executive action by President Biden as well as the Democrats’ $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill.
Meanwhile, some key Democrats are kicking back in airconditioned mansions when they should be out on the streets with Rep. Cori Bush, kicking butt and taking names of the corporations and billionaires who ignore homelessness while they try to control elections, the labor movement and tax policies. Their paramount goal is to avoid taxes on their mushrooming profits and trillions in cash reserves, which are hidden offshore or protected by bank secrecy laws in some states.
It is time for every single Democrat, from President Joe Biden, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Sen. Joe Manchin, all the way to state legislators, town councilors, mayors and county commissioners, to stand together and speak up for all American families, to demand that the federal rent funds be expedited immediately. Equally important, Congress must pass four vital changes in federal law.
First, the Democrats’ spending bill must include a number of hefty new taxes on corporations and the wealthy, to help balance the budget, along with full funding for a greatly expanded IRS that will be capable of aggressive, effective tax enforcement on the special interests. The budget reconciliation process does not guarantee passage of tax equity legislation, unless all the Democrats in Congress have the courage to vote for it.
Second, fair voting laws must be permanently guaranteed by passage of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act and the For The People Act. These federal protections will preserve fair and secure elections in all 50 states against rising partisan interference.
Third, the Protect the Right to Organize Act (PRO) must be enacted to give the labor movement and all working people a level playing field where they can confront powerful corporations and abusive business practices.
Fourth, Congress must pass The Women’s Health Protection Act. This bill will ensure that right-wing Supreme Court Justices and Texas vigilantes will never again have the power to interfere in any woman’s personal health care choices.
Sadly, none of these proposed laws is likely to receive much support from Republicans in Congress despite the overwhelming approval for them by most Americans, including many rank-and-file Republicans. That is why the Senate’s filibuster rule has to be ended.
This antiquated parliamentary procedure is one of the most effective tools the corporations and super-rich families have to maintain their minority control over the middle-class and working-class majority. More voters are realizing that every day.
In fact, most Democrats today have reached a consensus that President Biden may be failing to recognize, at his political peril. A growing majority of Biden’s base and the general public believe the president should call on every Senate Democrat to end the outdated filibuster rule now so Americans can start building back a better country for everyone, with justice for all.
How about it, Joe?