The Democracy Summit Highlights The Urgent Need To Repair Our Own Democracy
FRED WERTHEIMER’S WEEKLY NOTE | December 9, 2021
As the United States holds its Democracy Summit this week for more than 100 countries, our own democracy has serious credibility problems.
The attempted political coup and insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, the baseless, demagogic attacks by former President Trump on the presidential election he lost, the wave of voter suppression laws passed in the states, the efforts by Republicans in the states to create opportunities for partisan elections officials to rig future federal elections, among other actions, have combined to severely undermine our standing as the world’s role model for democracy.
Republicans are sending signals, furthermore, that they are out to take control of the White House in January 2025 whether they win the presidential election or not.
The Freedom to Vote Act, the Senate version of the House-passed For the People Act, would combat the attacks on our democracy by former President Trump and his acolytes. It would override the voter suppression laws enacted this year by Republican-controlled state legislatures that would take away the ability of millions of citizens to vote. The measure also would provide protections against the steps being taken by Republicans in the states to set the stage for partisan election officials to rig and steal future federal elections.
The Freedom to Vote Act has the support of 50 Senators. With the tie-breaking vote of the Vice President, the legislation can be enacted if the 50 Senators reach an agreement on revising the filibuster rules to permit the legislation to pass by majority vote.
Senate Republicans have used the filibuster this year to block any consideration of voting rights legislation. This led Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to arrange for a series of internal “family discussions” among these 50 Senators on ways to change the filibuster rules to restore the Senate to a functioning institution.
Majority Leader Schumer tasked three Senators – Tim Kaine (D-VA), Angus King (I-ME), and Jon Tester (D-MT) – to work with Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), a holdout, to date, on revising the filibuster rules, on finding a solution. The Senators reportedly have been involved in serious discussions on revising the filibuster rules. Other Democratic Senators are also involved.
Importantly, earlier this year Senator Manchin said that “inaction is not an option” on voting rights legislation.
A timeline of the filibuster rules covering the period 1806-2021, released this week by Democracy 21, shows how the filibuster rules have never been written in stone and have been routinely revised over the years. This includes 161 times during the period 1969 to 2014. Just this week, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) helped engineer a revision in the filibuster rules which suited his partisan interests, to allow an increase in the debt limit ceiling to pass by a majority vote.
There is very little time left in the Senate calendar this year, but if the legislation is not passed in December, the effort to finish the job as soon as possible should begin in January right after the holidays.
Nothing less than our democracy and the honesty and integrity of our elections is at stake in whether the Freedom to Vote Act and another essential voting rights measure, the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, are enacted.
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Fred’s Weekly Note appears each Thursday in Wertheimer’s Political Report, a Democracy 21 newsletter. Read this week’s newsletter here. Or, subscribe for free here and receive your copy each week via email.
