I believe it is crucial that the US contends with the 1.6 attack, its causes and its perpetrators. Making sense of how that attack was able to get as far as it did, who was involved and how to prevent repeat occurrences is part of government’s basic obligation to protect itself and the American people.
If the modern republican party is so damaged that it cannot agree to even this minimal level of government functioning–even after receiving significant concessions in protracted negotiations–then we must abandon them, and any hope of bipartisanship.
The modern GOP does not want Democracy to work. They do not want government to work–certainly not under democratic control. They have ceased even trying to appeal to voters, instead passing law after law to restrict the franchise, restrict voting, and thwart even the nonpartisan administration of elections. All this in service of cementing their minority rule into the future.
In short, they have ceased to participate in our great American experiment, and now exist only to perpetuate their own power and deliver the policy objectives of their corporate sponsors–the Kochs, the petrochemical industry generally, and wealthy elites.
I am begging you to see this reality and act accordingly to eliminate the filibuster. I completely understand clinging to the hope that your GOP colleagues may One Day Soon exhibit some minimal levels of decency and patriotism–there have been glimmers, certainly.
But that time is now past. With the filibuster of the bipartisan 1.6 commission, it is clear that the GOP is at best indifferent to the safety of the American people. In truth it seems clear that they are actively opposed to that bedrock principle of our nation–Democracy.
You gave bipartisanship every chance that you could, and good on you for doing so–it’s always better to give people a chance (multiple chances even) to do the right thing. But it is foolish to maintain this hope in the face of what is now a mountain of evidence that bipartisanship with the modern republican party is a chimera–an illusion inviting you to waste precious time on bad-faith “negotiations”.
It is time to eliminate the filibuster, and wield power like a republican.