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filibusters

Thursday 2nd of October 2025

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Democracy Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking. Clement Attlee, speech at Oxfrd University, June 14, 1957 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Democracy [That] the seven might, in particular instances be right, and the seventeen wrong, is more than possible. But to establish a positive and permanent rule giving such a power to such a minority, over such a majority, would overturn the first principle of free government. James Madison, letter to Edward Everett, August 28, 1830 © 2021 Kwiple.com
Filibusters But what is the legislative filibuster other than a tool that requires new federal policy to be broadly supported by Senators representing a broader cross-section of Americans — a guardrail, inevitably viewed as obstacle by whoever holds the Senate majority, but which in reality ensures that millions of Americans represented by the minority party have a voice in the process? Kyrsten Sinema, spouting, yet again, white supremacists' bullshit about the role of their favorite legislative tool — the filibuster — in a speech claiming she supports voting rights, but not enough to let the Senate debate or vote on them © 2022 Kwiple.com
Filibusters The ease of use is what made it such a powerful tool for McConnell. Even Richard Russell could not have organized 137 filibusters in two years, which is the number McConnell deployed against Obama from 2009 through 2010. But under the rules of the modern Senate, doing so was as easy as making a sign-up sheet. All it took was a phone call or an email from a single Republican senator and the threshold on any bill or nomination would shoot up from a majority to a supermajority, effectively granting the minority veto power. And there is nothing the majority can do about it. Adam Jentleson, Kill Switch © 2021 Kwiple.com
Filibusters In practical terms, it essentially means that a simple majority of 51 votes isn't nearly enough to pass legislation. If you don't get 60 votes for a bill, it's dead. Which means, theoretically, senators from the 21 least populated states representing just 11% of Americans could overrule everyone. It seems pretty extreme. So, to quote everyone who's ever sat in a bathroom stall with a 3" gap in the door — why on earth was it designed this way? John Oliver, Last Weeek Tonight, September 8, 2019 © 2022 Kwiple.com
Filibusters Indeed, most often, the real effect of the filibuster is to enable big donors in big cities to buy influence with veto-wielding senators in tiny states for much less than  the cost of persuading their own senators. Once the filibuster is gone, not only will nobody except the crassest interest groups miss it.  Nobody except the crassest interest groups will ever understand how or why it could have existed in the first place. David Frum, Trumpocalypse  © 2020 Kwiple.com
Filibusters The less sophisticated members of the southern caucus did not seem to understand that the first rule of filibustering on behalf of white supremacy was that there was no filibuster on behalf of white supremacy — only principled stands to protect “minority rights” and “unlimited debate.” Adam Jentleson, Kill Switch © 2021 Kwiple.com
Filibusters While I continue to support these [voting rights] bills, I will not support  separate actions that worsen the underlying disease of division infecting our country. We must address the disease itself, the disease of division, to protect our democracy, and it cannot be achieved by one party alone. Kysten Sinema, bullshitting about being a proponent of voting rights while sacrificing them on the altar of the anti-democratic filibuster, which she unashamedly loves far more, as do the similarly afflicted Joe Manchin and  all Republican senators and white supremacists, who showered her with heartfelt huzzahs © 2022 Kwiple.com
Liars say THE UNITED STATES SENATE HAS ══════════════ NEVER ══════════════ BEEN ABLE TO END DEBATE WITH A SIMPLE MAJORITY Poster displayed by Joe Manchin as he announced he's siding with all Republican senators to preverve the anti-democratic requirement for 60 votes to end a filibuster, rather than preserve voting rights for millions of Americans by lowering it to 51, something that's often been done in the past, as when his was the 51st vote that put Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court  © 2022 Kwiple.com
Judges All other presidents combined had endured a total of eighty-two filibusters against their [judicial] nominees. But from 2009 to 2013, President Obama alone faced eighty-six. Adam Jentleson, Kill Switch © 2021 Kwiple.com
Political inequality In an August 2019 op-ed in defense of the legislative filibuster, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell  invoked the authority of Thomas Jefferson: “great innovations should not be forced on slender majorities.” But as it is, even great  majorities are prevented from pursuing even small  innovations. As of 2018, the fifty states and the Dis- trict of Columbia were home together to 327 million people. A law passed by Sena- tors representing 290.4 million of them can effectively be vetoed by Senators re- presenting 36.6 million … or 11 percent. David Frum, Trumpocalypse  © 2020 Kwiple.com
 
Voting rights We should all support the right to vote – everyone – but not by breaking the rules  to make new rules. Joe Manchin, January 18,2022, supporting voter suppression efforts led by Senate Republicans by sacrificing a voting rights bill sponsored by Democrats on the alter of keeping the filibuster rule as it is © 2022 Kwiple.com