It’s also bizarre to me how many politicians will continue to strongly defend the existence of the filibuster in the Senate (which is an arbitrary rule, not a law, and is being abused like never before) but are perfectly happy to find gimmicky work-arounds that effectively end it. Bernie, bless his heart, exemplifies this attitude. For example he wants to overrule the senate parliamentarian and pass all kind of things like Medicare For All through the filibuster-bypassing budget reconciliation process that was never meant for the kind of stuff he wants to do. But if you’re going to do that, what’s the point of keeping the filibuster at all? The opposition could clearly do the same kind of gimmicks once they’re in power, so why not just drop the pretense and go with a simple majority vote if that’s what you want?
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