I agree with your take on the filibuster. Mitch wouldn't hesitate.
Now let me be contrarian. Yes, we need to motivate voters to support electoral reform. But the message of "we need to educate you" sounds like the patronizing attitude from Dems that pisses off so many people. Even if we don't use that language the attitude seeps through and the target audience doesn't pay attention.
I am also dubious about the utility of the poll you describe (which admittedly I have not seen). Asking people to choose between "electoral reform" and stopping "rampant voter fraud" is a false choice and pushes all the partisan buttons that voters are now conditioned to respond to.
Democrats CAN talk about making voting easier, safe, AND secure. Don't cede the anti-fraud issue to Republicans. Dems always do this and it puts us on the defensive. Instead, highlight examples like red state Utah that votes almost exclusively by mail, with no fraud. Look at how easy and secure it can be! Look at that cool ballot tracking app! Why can't everyone have that? Make people WANT what Utah, Oregon, and other states have! Does it save the govt money too? Even better!
We lose the abstract policy fights. We can win when we dangle a desired object in front of voters.
I’m sold. HOW do I go about supporting this reform? Who do we call, write, fund? Billboard campaigns? Something else?? What is the ground game to get awareness raised and action taken on the filibuster and voting rights legislation passed?
Question: is not part of our problem that Joe Manchin's personal political power doesn't really depend on us getting a significant Democratic agenda passed? My understanding is that it's a bit different for Sinema because of the way AZ is trending. But Manchin has about as much political power as he could hope for right now, and a wider Democratic majority actually makes him less significant to policy outcomes. This is an incredibly cynical way of looking at it, but since getting rid of the filibuster seems like the only way to grow Democratic political power I'm not sure how else to look at it.
I just want to ask to clarify something related to why people like Senators Manchin and Sinema are hesitant to support filibuster reform.
They say they don't want to be forced to take hard votes on controversial issues that can hurt them with either their base or independent voters in their home state when the GOP is in control of the Senate in the future.
Why can't they just not vote or vote present in that situation to avoid taking a position like all the other Senate Democrats did when the Green New Deal resolution was up for a vote to call out McConnell trolling them?
Isn't there some way to take a vote on a "limited version" of eliminating the filibuster so that those recalcitrant Senators could be persuaded on such an important bill? BTW I think the American public has shown a remarkable lack of concern on "process" votes over the years and clearly only wants Congress to do something positive. Why are those 3 dying on the "hill" (so to speak) for a process their constituents probably don't even care about and that Mitch will gleefully destroy anyway when he feels like it and can?
Ok, tell us; HOW? What do we DO with these PEOPLE??? Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, and Diane Feinstein. We can cry, scream, carry on, tear our hair out...but HOW?? I have limited funds (on ss totally) and have pledged $5/month to WI Dems....what ELSE CAN WE DO? (Yes, I am shouting) but you must realize that you are preaching to the choir here.
Is there anything to do about changing Feinstein’s mind? She doesn’t ever seem to listen, nor meet constituents. She seems more of a no-opt than Manchin.
I agree with your take on the filibuster. Mitch wouldn't hesitate.
Now let me be contrarian. Yes, we need to motivate voters to support electoral reform. But the message of "we need to educate you" sounds like the patronizing attitude from Dems that pisses off so many people. Even if we don't use that language the attitude seeps through and the target audience doesn't pay attention.
I am also dubious about the utility of the poll you describe (which admittedly I have not seen). Asking people to choose between "electoral reform" and stopping "rampant voter fraud" is a false choice and pushes all the partisan buttons that voters are now conditioned to respond to.
Democrats CAN talk about making voting easier, safe, AND secure. Don't cede the anti-fraud issue to Republicans. Dems always do this and it puts us on the defensive. Instead, highlight examples like red state Utah that votes almost exclusively by mail, with no fraud. Look at how easy and secure it can be! Look at that cool ballot tracking app! Why can't everyone have that? Make people WANT what Utah, Oregon, and other states have! Does it save the govt money too? Even better!
We lose the abstract policy fights. We can win when we dangle a desired object in front of voters.
I’m sold. HOW do I go about supporting this reform? Who do we call, write, fund? Billboard campaigns? Something else?? What is the ground game to get awareness raised and action taken on the filibuster and voting rights legislation passed?
Question: is not part of our problem that Joe Manchin's personal political power doesn't really depend on us getting a significant Democratic agenda passed? My understanding is that it's a bit different for Sinema because of the way AZ is trending. But Manchin has about as much political power as he could hope for right now, and a wider Democratic majority actually makes him less significant to policy outcomes. This is an incredibly cynical way of looking at it, but since getting rid of the filibuster seems like the only way to grow Democratic political power I'm not sure how else to look at it.
Great piece, agree completely.
I just want to ask to clarify something related to why people like Senators Manchin and Sinema are hesitant to support filibuster reform.
They say they don't want to be forced to take hard votes on controversial issues that can hurt them with either their base or independent voters in their home state when the GOP is in control of the Senate in the future.
Why can't they just not vote or vote present in that situation to avoid taking a position like all the other Senate Democrats did when the Green New Deal resolution was up for a vote to call out McConnell trolling them?
I never got a satisfying answer to that question.
Isn't there some way to take a vote on a "limited version" of eliminating the filibuster so that those recalcitrant Senators could be persuaded on such an important bill? BTW I think the American public has shown a remarkable lack of concern on "process" votes over the years and clearly only wants Congress to do something positive. Why are those 3 dying on the "hill" (so to speak) for a process their constituents probably don't even care about and that Mitch will gleefully destroy anyway when he feels like it and can?
Ok, tell us; HOW? What do we DO with these PEOPLE??? Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema, and Diane Feinstein. We can cry, scream, carry on, tear our hair out...but HOW?? I have limited funds (on ss totally) and have pledged $5/month to WI Dems....what ELSE CAN WE DO? (Yes, I am shouting) but you must realize that you are preaching to the choir here.
Is there anything to do about changing Feinstein’s mind? She doesn’t ever seem to listen, nor meet constituents. She seems more of a no-opt than Manchin.