LETTER: Filibuster distorts notions of representative government

Letters to the editor
Letters to the editor
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Editor, Register-Mail: Elizabeth Warren lamented on Jan. 18, "all 50 Dems in the Senate profess to be behind the Voting Rights bill, but it's just the Senate procedural rules that give McConnell a veto over what the majority of this nation voted for." Ari Berman wrote, "The filibuster continues to distort all notions of representative government. The 51 senators who supported the John Lewis bill originally represent 44.2 million more Americans than the 48 senators who opposed it." So, how big a bribe did Manchin and Sinema require to abandon their proposed Democratic principles? Most Dems who ultimately voted for Joe Biden, originally wanted a more progressive candidate, such as Bernie Sanders, Liz Warren, Buttigieg, O'Rourke. More voters than ever before in any presidential election voted for trusted Joe Biden, and WE want to go 'forward,' not regress to the racist, repressive past.

More: LETTER: Will Dems be held hostage by radical few?

Krysten Sinema, D-AZ, is often mistaken or outright lying about things she says, such as her statement regarding the filibuster being rooted in our Constitution. It is NOT! And regarding the latest GOP talking-point, the kerfuffle about Dems trying to limit states' rights, even Alexander Hamilton, in the Federalist Papers, stated that voting rules shouldn't be left up to the individual states. There MUST be a federal standard! Voting rights are a baseline tenet of our democracy. Though significant progress has been made in reducing racial discrimination, clearly more progress and protections are necessary. Our latest Census proved that we have a more ethnically-diverse electorate than ever before. Black history (& her-story) is everyone's history, as is Jewish, Latino, Asian, Italian, Polish, etc., and especially indigenous natives. In 21st-century America, our laws, liberties, safeguards and benefits must be applicable to protect and serve all Americans.

More: LETTER: Biden accomplished plenty in first year

Trump was broadcast last week saying, "it's important who counts the votes," parroting Joseph Stalin, who proclaimed the same philosophy; both repressive leaders were NOT for counting the votes they didn't like. We're at a perilous crossroads for our democracy, and I heard someone recently declare, "It's always darkest just before pitch-black." "The Republican Party, the once Grand Old Party of Lincoln, has wrapped itself up in lies, propaganda, conspiracy theories and disinformation. By attacking the outcome of our elections, the GOP fails its basic responsibilities to our democracy", said U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-MD. He also reminded us that, "Americans are unified not by one ethnicity, nor by one religion, but we ARE unified by one Constitution." — Trish Forsyth Voss

This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: LETTER: Filibuster distorts notions of representative government