Thank you, Robert, for pointing to Gregory Diskents opinion piece the NLJ. What jumped off the page is his reference to Federalist #22:
in “The Federalist, No. 22,” Alexander Hamilton noted—and then rejected—the seeming advantages of a supermajority requirement. “When the concurrence of a large number” is required, “we are apt to rest satisfied that all is safe, because nothing improper will be likely to be done.” But we forget “how much good may be prevented, and how much ill may be produced” by a paralyzed government. “In its real operation,” Hamilton wrote, a supermajority requirement would be used by the minority to “embarrass the administration, to destroy the energy of government” and to substitute the will of the minority for “the regular deliberations and decisions of a respectable majority.”
Hamilton was prescient.
The question is, how do we “educate” Senators Manchin and Sinema?
From my perspective of a very senior citizen who remembers what I was doing when JFK was shot, the Frum article in the Atlantic is very depressing. I can't even imagine how I would feel right now to be a person of color in my twenties. God help us!
While I am usually grateful for your optimism and efforts to boost morale, I am sad to say I no longer feel they are working - for me, at least. Watching Dems and Biden failing to act on voting rights is painful and infuriating. How can Dems ever hope to get support of the coalition that gave them the White House and Congress? Infrastructure won't work. Infrastructure won't enable more people to vote. And infrastructure won't prevent state legislatures from overturning the results of elections. If we lose the voting rights battle, we have lost the war.
My last hope for passing the For the People bill comes from somewhat cryptic remarks by Kamala Harris about conversations that are going on behind the scenes. If nothing comes of these private conversations, I'm just going to throw up my hands and consider Biden and Harris to be paper tigers!
Thank you, Robert, for pointing to Gregory Diskents opinion piece the NLJ. What jumped off the page is his reference to Federalist #22:
in “The Federalist, No. 22,” Alexander Hamilton noted—and then rejected—the seeming advantages of a supermajority requirement. “When the concurrence of a large number” is required, “we are apt to rest satisfied that all is safe, because nothing improper will be likely to be done.” But we forget “how much good may be prevented, and how much ill may be produced” by a paralyzed government. “In its real operation,” Hamilton wrote, a supermajority requirement would be used by the minority to “embarrass the administration, to destroy the energy of government” and to substitute the will of the minority for “the regular deliberations and decisions of a respectable majority.”
Hamilton was prescient.
The question is, how do we “educate” Senators Manchin and Sinema?
Perhaps this is a good time to mention that Woody Guthrie's banjo had a legend inked in it: This machine kills fascists.
From my perspective of a very senior citizen who remembers what I was doing when JFK was shot, the Frum article in the Atlantic is very depressing. I can't even imagine how I would feel right now to be a person of color in my twenties. God help us!
Please restate the links to activism for 2022 often. We all ripen at different rates.
I wrote postcards to young Georgia voters before November and January elections.
Doing so channeled my frustration into constructive action; I simply reminded young people that voting is their Superpower. It felt loving to do so.
While I am usually grateful for your optimism and efforts to boost morale, I am sad to say I no longer feel they are working - for me, at least. Watching Dems and Biden failing to act on voting rights is painful and infuriating. How can Dems ever hope to get support of the coalition that gave them the White House and Congress? Infrastructure won't work. Infrastructure won't enable more people to vote. And infrastructure won't prevent state legislatures from overturning the results of elections. If we lose the voting rights battle, we have lost the war.
My last hope for passing the For the People bill comes from somewhat cryptic remarks by Kamala Harris about conversations that are going on behind the scenes. If nothing comes of these private conversations, I'm just going to throw up my hands and consider Biden and Harris to be paper tigers!
Thanks for your prompt reply. I will use as a mantra your words, it is not hopeless even though it is challenging.
This truly is the test of our time.