Enabled by Democratic senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, a united front of US Senate Republicans dealt American democracy a massive blow last week by blocking the Freedom to Vote: John R Lewis Act. The US Senate: a place where desperately needed federal voting rights legislation goes to die a spectacle unworthy of what Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin called the worlds greatest deliberative body.
Raskin was referring to the Senates reputation not necessarily in an affirmative, but in an aspirational way: he wanted to issue a challenge to the senators to live up to this glorious notion. Nevertheless, the mythical idea of the Senate as the worlds greatest deliberative body is widely held among the countrys political elite the kind of American exceptionalism that still very much warps the perspective on US history and politics.
What we really need to grapple with is the fact that the current situation is not just a disgraceful aberration from the Senates supposedly noble past and true character. In some fundamental ways, the Senate is working as intended. It has always been one of the most powerful undemocratic distortions in the political system and not by accident, but because thats what it was designed to be.
So far, much of the attention has focused on the filibuster as the most blatantly undemocratic tool of obstruction. It is true that the frequency of filibuster use has increased dramatically in recent years. Still, what Republicans did last week was well in line with the longer-term historical norm. The filibuster has consistently been an instrument of white Christian domination: during the 20th century, it was used predominantly to block civil rights legislation and measures such as anti-lynching bills.
Since the filibuster was not part of the Senates original design and only came to be by accident in the early 19th century, it is tempting to portray it as the real culprit a stain on an otherwise admirable institution. Lets remember, however, that just like the electoral college, the Senate was always intended to be a layer of insulation between those in power and the people which is why senators were initially appointed by state legislatures. The senate was supposed to help stave off what many of the founders saw as the threat of too much democracy. So, what we see today is not just an institution hijacked by a radicalized Republican party (although it is that too) but an institution badly in need of structural reform that should go well beyond getting rid of the filibuster.
In the current political situation, reforming the Senate, just like protecting voting rights, is considered a partisan idea and it is, but only because democracy itself has become a partisan issue. Of the two major parties, only the Democratic party is a democratic party.
Lets be specific about how undemocratic an institution this is something that is best captured in numbers: in the current 50:50 Senate, Democratic senators represent 40 million more voters; by about 2040, 70% of the country will be represented by just 30 senators, while less than one-third of the electorate will get to determine 70 out of 100 members of the Senate.
The issue of disproportionate representation is deeply intertwined with the problem of white Christian patriarchal rule. The Senate privileges conservative white voters who dominate in small, less populous states; it is biased towards white people, with or without the filibuster. Here are two more numbers everyone should know: out of about 2,000 US senators in the countrys history, 11 have been Black. More than 150 years since the civil war, more than half a century since the civil rights legislation of the 1960s 11 Black senators. And to date, 58 women have served in the Senate. More than a century since Congress passed the 19th amendment, finally granting women the right to vote 58 female senators. Whenever someone says the Senate is the worlds greatest deliberative body, remember that it is deliberately and inherently undemocratic an anti-democratic distortion that stands in the way of America finally realizing the promise of multiracial, pluralistic democracy.
The legislation Republicans are blocking in the Senate is the minimum needed to resist the state-level authoritarian onslaught on the system. But beyond such immediate measures, a more structural approach to democracy reform is required and Congresss upper chamber needs to be at the center of those debates. America can have the Senate in its present form or liberal democracy, but probably not both.
The good news is that serious reform is eminently possible. There certainly is no filibuster requirement in the US constitution, and there are ways to alleviate the Senates anti-democratic character by adding DC and Puerto Rico as states, for instance. The tension between white male elite rule and aspirations of true democracy has always shaped the American project it is inherent in the nations founding documents and its political system. The existing institutional order is in conflict with the promise that all people deserve to participate as equals in a democratic polity and that situation requires a decision.
The worlds greatest deliberative body? If it were true, it would be quite the indictment of the worlds other deliberative chambers. Lets abandon such vestiges of mythical exceptionalism that make it harder to acknowledge the anti-democratic threats and deficiencies in American politics and culture. The fact that a shrinking minority of white conservatives is consistently being enabled to hold on to power against the will of the majority of voters is destined to cause a massive legitimacy crisis. And unless the system is properly democratized, it is only going to get worse.
Continued here:
US Senate v liberal democracy: the battle in the heart of Washington DC - The Guardian
- Delaware shows the War on Drugs lives on in liberal enclaves - Brookings Institution - May 25th, 2022
- The Liberal Obsession With 'Disinformation' Is Not Helping - New York Magazine - May 25th, 2022
- It's not 'bias' liberal media are telling the truth, pointedly - The Boston Globe - May 25th, 2022
- Abandoning classical liberalism turns the heartland teal - The Australian Financial Review - May 25th, 2022
- Geoff Russ: The Liberal Canada loved by the boomers keeping Trudeau in power won't last - National Post - May 25th, 2022
- Labor says Peter Dutton taking reins of Liberal Party shows Coalition 'learned absolutely nothing' from federal election - ABC News - May 25th, 2022
- Liberals discussed dumping Morrison in Coalitions final months - Sydney Morning Herald - May 25th, 2022
- DAVID JOHNSON: Treason and the Liberal-NDP agreement - Saltwire - May 25th, 2022
- Regional Queensland voted for the Liberal National Party. What do they make of the Labor government and 'greenslide'? - ABC News - May 25th, 2022
- Conrad Black: Poilievre has a real chance to break the Liberal status quo and that has his enemies trembling - National Post - May 25th, 2022
- Angus Taylor says Liberal Party must focus on core values after federal election loss - ABC News - May 25th, 2022
- Liberals are too focused on themselves, says Constance, as Gilmore hangs in balance - Sydney Morning Herald - May 25th, 2022
- Where Have All the Liberals Gone? - The New York Times - May 15th, 2022
- Liberals Should Be Worried About the Conservative Comedy Scene - POLITICO - May 15th, 2022
- Bill Maher Laments About A Liberal World That Seems To Be Going Mad In Real Time Takes - Deadline - May 15th, 2022
- The Looming End to Abortion Rights Gives Liberal Democrats a Spark - The New York Times - May 15th, 2022
- Ontario Liberals accuse PCs of favouring own party in government appointments - Global News - May 15th, 2022
- GUNTER: Yet more Liberal falsehoods surrounding the convoy have been debunked - Toronto Sun - May 15th, 2022
- Danger for the Liberal Party coming from the right as well as the teals - Sydney Morning Herald - May 15th, 2022
- What Labor and Liberal Facebook ad spend tells us about where the election campaign is heading - ABC News - May 15th, 2022
- Lib Dems already campaigning for Tiverton and Honiton byelection - The Guardian - May 15th, 2022
- Is AARP too liberal? That's what its right-leaning rivals say - Newsday - May 15th, 2022
- Can Doug Fords nephew topple the NDP incumbent in a Liberal riding? - Toronto Star - May 15th, 2022
- Utting Research Perth seat polls and Liberal Party briefing wars The Poll Bludger - The Poll Bludger - May 15th, 2022
- Liberal Party unveils one weird political ad to rule them all - Mumbrella - May 15th, 2022
- Scottish Water condemned by Liberal Democrats for bonuses as sewage is released into rivers - STV News - May 15th, 2022
- Liberal Party 'warms up' with final countdown underway - The Transcontinental - May 15th, 2022
- Abortion leak: Is the Supreme Court conservative or liberal? | Opinion - Deseret News - May 15th, 2022
- Will Orban Be Remembered as a Liberal? - The American Conservative - May 11th, 2022
- Francis Fukuyama Predicted the End of History. Its Back (Again). - The New York Times - May 11th, 2022
- Better med care, more say over immigration among Liberal promises to northern Ontario - Sudbury.com - May 11th, 2022
- Abortion laws in Colombia are now among the most liberal in the Americas : Goats and Soda - NPR - May 11th, 2022
- Former Australian of the Year says Liberal MP Fiona Martin selectively quoted him in political endorsement without his knowledge - ABC News - May 11th, 2022
- College Students Shouldnt Have To Choose Between Career Skills And Liberal Arts - Chief Executive - May 11th, 2022
- Globe editorial: The Liberals are eager to talk about regulating speech online but wisely reluctant to actually do it - The Globe and Mail - May 11th, 2022
- GUNTER: The Liberals have sneakily brought back the gun registry - Toronto Sun - May 11th, 2022
- Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke Liberals announce Oliver Jacob as their 2022 provincial candidate - Pembroke Observer - May 11th, 2022
- Frydenberg: if he loses, the Liberal Party would be changed dramatically - Crikey - May 11th, 2022
- Jesse Watters: Liberal protests at homes of Supreme Court justices are just a warning shot - Fox News - May 11th, 2022
- Federal Labor and Liberal parties pledge additional funding for CIT accommodation, Canberra's Home of Football - ABC News - May 11th, 2022
- The White Card review the liberal art worlds blindness to privilege - The Guardian - May 11th, 2022
- Liberal MP doubles down on comments that raped women should be denied abortions - The Age - May 11th, 2022
- UPES School of Liberal Studies Wants Students To Be Critical Thinkers - The Quint - May 11th, 2022
- CU Denver - College of Liberal Arts and Sciences - May 3rd, 2022
- Roe v. Wade and an End to the Liberal Romance With Courts - New York Magazine - May 3rd, 2022
- Liberal dark money group with Biden admin ties capitalizes on SCOTUS leak to push court-packing agenda - Fox News - May 3rd, 2022
- I was deputy leader of the Liberals. The party I served has lost its way - Sydney Morning Herald - May 3rd, 2022
- Red stock, blue stock --- MAGA Republicans and liberal Democrats are taking their politics to Wall Street - MarketWatch - May 3rd, 2022
- There are pros and cons to the Liberal plan for $1 transit fares, experts say - CBC.ca - May 3rd, 2022
- Liberal and Elkhart Baseball Split on Wind Blown Day - KSCB News.net - May 3rd, 2022
- Why teal independents are seeking Liberal voters and spooking Liberal MPs - The Conversation - May 3rd, 2022
- N.S. Liberal Party recovered $195K related to internal theft - CBC.ca - May 3rd, 2022
- Kevin Falcon eyes Liberal party renewal with his seat in the house secured - Vancouver Sun - May 3rd, 2022
- Council elections in Scotland: What are the Liberal Democrats for? Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP - Edinburgh News - May 3rd, 2022
- FIRST READING: Liberal voices starting to warn Pierre Poilievre could be their undoing - National Post - May 3rd, 2022
- Will the standard Liberal tactics of accusing Conservatives of being pro-gun and anti-abortion work on Pierre Poilievre? - The Globe and Mail - May 3rd, 2022
- FIRST READING: Another Liberal gun policy that neatly ignores where the guns come from - National Post - May 3rd, 2022
- Liberal Protestants and the Polarization of the US - Religion & Politics - April 20th, 2022
- Preregistration is the Enemy of Liberal Education | Opinion - Harvard Crimson - April 20th, 2022
- Rachel Williams named dean of the Division of Liberal Arts at UNCSA - UNCSA - UNCSA - April 20th, 2022
- The Liberal Party wants us to 'look at the facts'. But just whose facts? - Crikey - April 20th, 2022
- Ari Fleischer writes new book on why the liberal media keeps getting the news wrong - Fox News - April 20th, 2022
- Do No Harm aims to keep liberal ideology out of healthcare: Physicians are being pushed to discriminate - Fox News - April 20th, 2022
- Josh Frydenberg could be the next Liberal Party leader. So who is he? - The New Daily - April 20th, 2022
- What the Liberal Democrats plan to do for Cardiff if they get into power - Wales Online - April 20th, 2022
- Why the Liberals face a fight for survival in battleground WA - WAtoday - April 20th, 2022
- The rise of the liberal groomer - UnHerd - April 15th, 2022
- Scott Jennings: Is Andy Beshear becoming a liberal culture warrior taking on trans rights? - Courier Journal - April 15th, 2022
- Justin Trudeau's Liberals Are Returning to the Miserable Status Quo - Jacobin magazine - April 15th, 2022
- France's liberal base is aging fast. Macron now needs to win over angry younger voters - CNBC - April 15th, 2022
- The liberal arts core makes SU students multifaceted. It should be expanded. - The Daily Orange - April 15th, 2022
- Green groundswell in Boothby could end 70-year Liberal run - The Australian Financial Review - April 15th, 2022
- When will Fauci and liberal leaders apologize for the millions of lives damaged with pointless COVID restrictions? - New York Post - April 15th, 2022
- Pike Liberal Arts School officially joins the AHSAA - The Troy Messenger - Troy Messenger - April 15th, 2022
- Float it and see: Outgoing Liberal calls for imperfect federal integrity commission - Sydney Morning Herald - April 15th, 2022
- Matthew Camenzuli ordered to pay costs in legal battle over NSW Liberal preselections - ABC News - April 15th, 2022
- Opportunistic hustle: Liberals, Labor accused of data harvesting with mailed-out postal vote registration forms - The New Daily - April 15th, 2022
- Southampton Green Party and Liberal Democrats unite ahead of election - Southern Daily Echo - April 15th, 2022
- Record number of NSW Liberal members quit amid war over preselections - Sydney Morning Herald - April 15th, 2022
- Liberal MP says shes being targeted by conservatives, urges end to infighting - Sydney Morning Herald - April 15th, 2022