It’s Ironic and Hypocritical for Democrats to Push for a Shutdown by Way of The Filibuster
Last week was rough for Democrats. A new NBC poll found that just 27 percent of the public had a favorable view of the Democratic Party and 55 percent had an unfavorable view of the Party, this is an historic low for that poll, and CNN also came out with a poll that had Democrats at 29 percent favorability rating, and according to that poll the lowest rating for any party in decades. And these polls were taken before the budget showdown last week which divided the Democrats even more.
The polling evidence finds that the far-left Democrats aren’t happy, and the moderate Democrats aren’t happy. No real surprise I suppose, when Parties are kicked out of power sooner or later party members start to point fingers, they start the search for scapegoats and they pile on once the convenient goat is found, and after last week, I suspect that Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader will be identified as the problem. It could get tough for Schumer in the coming days and weeks, he may have to fight for his job. It is bad for Chucky; because on Friday, in a highly unexpected and ominous move former Democrat House Speaker and party power broker Nancy Pelosi came out and publicly criticized Schumer over his leadership on the budget battle. I say ominous because she forced Biden out of the Presidential race, so I have no doubt that she has the clout to force Schumer out as minority leader if she wants to.
What according to the left did Schumer do wrong? Well, the Party’s left flank is delusional, they have unrealistic expectations. I believe that intellectually they know that they lost the election but still they think that the American people are with them. Squad member, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC) claimed that the American people are “up in arms” over what Musk and Trump are doing. They are not. They just elected Trump and are happy to see someone going after the bureaucracy with a chain saw. But every Democrat member of Congress from New York, Illinois, California and Maryland, and other blue states, think that the American people still want them in power, still support Democrats on policy, so based on that delusion they demanded that the Senate minority block, with a filibuster, the budget resolution from passing last Friday.
It should be noted that it was not the budget but an outline of a federal budget which Democrats didn’t think would allow for as much spending as they desire. But to block the (CR) continuing resolution would require the minority to use the Filibuster. A procedure that allows the minority to hold up bills and demand changes.
Schumer made the right move; the shutdown strategy would have been a disaster for the Democrats. The shutdown would rightly have been blamed on them, and it would have exposed them as hypocrites because they have traditionally opposed shutdowns claiming that they hurt the poor and elderly, and the disadvantaged, and should always be ruled out. But it would also be futile to adopt such a strategy. Democrats would have rejected the CR, the government would shut down and then Senate Democrats would have to hope that House Republicans would play ball with them, that is Republicans would give them more money to spend. I doubt it, because Republicans were unified, all but one voted for the CR.
Last week’s budget resolution fight makes a couple things clear; Democrats don’t have a leader, or a common strategy, this is understandable since they are completely out of power, and it shows they are still out of touch with the country. They have a 29 percent approval rating for a reason. The American people want them on the sidelines for now.
The other problem for Democrats, in addition to taking the blame for causing a shutdown and all the havoc that would come from that is that it would also expose them as hypocrites, because just a couple years ago many of them were pushing to get rid of the filibuster. They claimed it was undemocratic, and that America’s democracy is at risk. We must save our democracy, so we must get rid of the filibuster they claimed.
For example, AOC in 2021 advocated getting rid of the filibuster saying,
“Preserving the filibuster is not worth letting millions of people in this country go hungry, sleep in their cars, or struggle to afford baby formula,”
I assume she meant that people already had enough trouble affording baby formula with the government open, and that a government shutdown would only serve to make such a task virtually impossible. Well, that was then, now there is a Republican President, so now she believes it is worth keeping the filibuster and shutting down the government. AOC complained that Schumer never should have let the budget resolution “come up for a vote”, meaning he should have employed the filibuster. She seems to have forgotten that in 2021 she advocated getting rid of the filibuster. The irony is lost on her. If the majority had sided with her then she’d be speechless about the shutdown fight today. If anything, she’d have to blame herself.
In another case of hypocrisy freshman Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego from Arizona campaigned on a pledge to get rid of the filibuster saying, “The filibuster is a relic of the Jim Crow era that has been used to stifle progress for generations now. Abolish it.” But that was before Trump won. On Friday he was one of the Democrats in favor of using the filibuster.
He campaigned on getting rid of the filibuster, so for him to use it at the first opportunity shows that he lied to voters.
I myself support the filibuster whether a Republican is President or a Democrat, but I am not a believer in democracy. America is a Republic, and the Senate is not a majoritarian body like the House. I believe it should take 60 votes to move legislation forward, but we are told by the left that democracy is in trouble and that the majority should rule. If that is the case, then they should not use the filibuster which denies the majority will.
If Democrats want to help improve their image, and get up over a 30 percent approval rating, I suggest that they start by telling the truth, that they be honest with the American people. They should admit that they are in favor of the filibuster when there is a Republican in the White House and are opposed to the filibuster when a Democrat is in the White House.
David Shephard is the author of two books. Elections Have Consequences, A Cautionary Tale.
Norton’s Choice: An Inside Politics Exposé: Shephard, David: 9781892538802: Amazon.com: Books
