Finally, a Democrat votes against something that will further destroy the country, and as a result, she gets censured by her own party.
The filibuster has been a part of the policy in Congress in Washington, D.C., for more than a century according to History.com.
A filibuster is a political strategy in which a senator speaks—or threatens to speak—for hours on end to delay efforts to vote for a bill. The unusual tactic takes advantage of a U.S. Senate rule that says a senator, once recognized on the floor, may speak on an issue without being impeded by anyone. While various rule changes have tempered the filibuster’s power over the past century, it still offers unique leverage to the minority political party in the Senate.
The term filibuster originated from the 18th-century word “flibustier,” which referred to pirates who pillaged the Spanish colonies in the West Indies, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. By the mid-1800s the term had evolved to filibuster and taken on political meaning, describing the process by which long-winded senators hold the legislative body hostage by their verbiage.
Actor James Stewart made the filibuster famous in the 1939 film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. In the movie, Stewart plays a young senator who talks for nearly 24 hours to delay a vote on a corrupt public works bill.
A real-life senator, South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond, topped Stewart’s character’s performance in 1957. Sen. Thurmond armed himself with throat lozenges and malted milk balls and spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes to stall passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. As part of his extended performance, the then 55-year-old senator read the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Criminal Code and the voting laws of 48 states.
As noted above, Democrats used the filibuster in 1957 to stop the Civil Rights Act. This Act was later passed predominantly by Republicans in the mid-1960’s.
The Democrats under Schumer and Pelosi wanted to end the filibuster so they could push their ‘corrupt elections forever’ bill through. They are willing to end the centuries-old process available to the minority party in the US Senate, to end free and fair elections forever. Their election bills would eliminate voter IDs, proof of citizenship and add same-day voter registrations and drop boxes everywhere. Elections under this scenario will go to whoever adds the most votes to drop boxes. The counting process will also be a sham.
Senator Sinema from Arizona voted along with Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia voted to keep the filibuster. Sinema is being punished for it. The Daily Caller reports:
Democratic Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has been formally censured by the Arizona Democratic Party’s (ADP) executive committee for her decisions regarding filibuster and voting rights reforms, ABC News reported.
Chairwoman of the ADP, Raquel Teran, reportedly said in a statement, “…on the matter of the filibuster and the urgency to protect voting rights, we have been crystal clear. In the choice between an archaic legislative norm and protecting Arizonans’ right to vote, we choose the latter, and we always will.”
“While we take no pleasure in this announcement, the ADP Executive Board has decided to formally censure Senator Sinema as a result of her failure to do whatever it takes to ensure the health of our democracy,” she continued.
Sinema and Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin are the only two Democrats to vote against filibuster reform, which ABC News claims has “derailed passage of voting rights legislation.”
