WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.000 What is the filibuster and how has it saved us from the brink? 2 00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:07.000 That is next. 3 00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:27.000 Hey, welcome back to the Barry Ferrer Show. Glad to have you with us. 4 00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:29.000 I hope you're doing really well. 5 00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:31.000 You know, the Democrats are mad. 6 00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:37.000 They can't get some of their radical legislation passed, so they want to change the rules. 7 00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:42.000 Rule 22 has come to be known as the filibuster. 8 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:45.000 It's one of the primary tools in the Senate. 9 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:48.000 It's used to allow for the minority to delay things. 10 00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:53.000 That's very frustrating for the majority, but it's been used by both parties. 11 00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:57.000 When the Constitution enumerated all the powers of the Congress in Article I, 12 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:04.000 it was pretty clear, and is, that the House of Representatives was designed to be closest to the people. 13 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:10.000 They have a smaller territory than a senator, and they have to run for re-election every two years. 14 00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:12.000 And that's good and bad. 15 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:17.000 The good part is that they are able to be very responsive to the people in their district. 16 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:21.000 The bad part is that they can be led by the passion of the moment. 17 00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:27.000 And sometimes, upon further reflection, that passion might not be in the best interest, 18 00:01:27.000 --> 00:01:30.000 even of their own district, upon further reflection. 19 00:01:30.000 --> 00:01:39.000 So, as part of our constitutional republic's design, the House can pass something by a simple majority. 20 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:41.000 They can respond in the moment. 21 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:45.000 The Senate was designed to be more deliberative, to debate more. 22 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:51.000 They have staggered six-year terms, and they represent the whole state. 23 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:55.000 They have to be five years older than a House rep to even qualify. 24 00:01:55.000 --> 00:02:02.000 The Senate can take what the House sent over in a flash, and then subject it to a different kind of evaluation. 25 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:05.000 They can give it a more considered analysis. 26 00:02:05.000 --> 00:02:10.000 So, what is the origin of this thing called the filibuster? 27 00:02:10.000 --> 00:02:14.000 Well, back in 60 B.C., there was a Roman senator named Cato. 28 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:19.000 And he spoke until nightfall to obstruct a measure that he thought was bad. 29 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:26.000 The Roman Senate had a rule that all business had to be concluded by dusk, kind of part of their transparency rule. 30 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:33.000 So, when he made these long-winded speeches, he successfully delayed the vote, pushed it into the next day. 31 00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:35.000 And he did this twice. 32 00:02:35.000 --> 00:02:38.000 Julius Caesar was not happy about it, didn't like it. 33 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:42.000 But it did create a temporary delay in the legislative process. 34 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:49.000 Now, over the years, countries have adopted some form of that capability to delay things. 35 00:02:49.000 --> 00:02:57.000 And if you have a republic or a democracy, they allowed for some rendition of a legislative delay tactic in most cases. 36 00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:02.000 The United Kingdom, for example, calls their filibuster a talked-out. 37 00:03:02.000 --> 00:03:08.000 I mean, I know they invented the language and all, but that doesn't seem all that inspired. 38 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:11.000 Anyway, labor has stalled conservatives. 39 00:03:11.000 --> 00:03:13.000 Conservatives have blocked labor. 40 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:16.000 And they've done so with their talk-out. 41 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:20.000 Now, you go to Australia, and it's effectively forbidden. 42 00:03:20.000 --> 00:03:24.000 You only get a certain amount of time to make your case. 43 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:29.000 But you come all the way to Canada, and the filibuster concept has been used many times, a number of times. 44 00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:33.000 In the United States, the actual word is not part of the Constitution. 45 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:43.000 However, in Article I, Section 5, both the House of Representatives and the Senate may determine the rules of its own proceedings. 46 00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:48.000 And that's where the debate and delay proceeding, among other things, are derived. 47 00:03:48.000 --> 00:03:51.000 The rules are critical. I mean, how do you appoint a chair? 48 00:03:51.000 --> 00:03:53.000 How do you recognize a person? 49 00:03:53.000 --> 00:04:00.000 So, in the first session of the Senate in 1789, they approved 20 Senate rules, a bunch of them. 50 00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:02.000 Some of these are really good. 51 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:07.000 In this original packet, one rule said you got to pay attention to the guy on the floor. 52 00:04:07.000 --> 00:04:14.000 No member shall speak to another or otherwise interrupt the business of the Senate or read any printed paper, 53 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:17.000 kind of like the equivalent of looking at your iPhone today, 54 00:04:17.000 --> 00:04:23.000 while the journals or public papers are reading or when any member is speaking in any debate. 55 00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:26.000 Rule 19 is kind of another courtesy one. 56 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:32.000 It says that no senator in debate shall directly or indirectly, by any form of words, 57 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:40.000 impute to another senator or to other senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a senator. 58 00:04:40.000 --> 00:04:47.000 Wow. You couldn't blast, and you can't, you're not supposed to, blast another guy just because you disagree with him. 59 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:50.000 You can't resort to accusing him of bad motives. 60 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:53.000 You can't call him a racist or something naughty. 61 00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:57.000 You have to win on the merits of the debate. 62 00:04:57.000 --> 00:05:00.000 Now, since then, those original... 63 00:05:00.000 --> 00:05:07.680 20, there have only been seven general revisions of the Senate rules and the first major revision 64 00:05:07.680 --> 00:05:13.080 came in 1806 when Rule 22 came into effect. 65 00:05:13.080 --> 00:05:18.480 Eventually you get to the concept of debate and delay and this is what the Senate has 66 00:05:18.480 --> 00:05:20.160 to ask. 67 00:05:20.160 --> 00:05:26.920 Is it the sense of the Senate that the debate shall be brought to a close? 68 00:05:26.920 --> 00:05:29.240 So you got a guy kind of filibustering and what happens? 69 00:05:29.240 --> 00:05:34.720 So as amended in 1975, if three-fifths of the Senators agree, then they can shut down 70 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:37.240 the debate and then go ahead and vote. 71 00:05:37.240 --> 00:05:43.020 But if the measure is to amend the Senate rules, they've got to have even more, two-thirds 72 00:05:43.020 --> 00:05:45.840 of the Senators present and voting. 73 00:05:45.840 --> 00:05:48.880 This Rule 22 has been nicknamed the filibuster. 74 00:05:48.880 --> 00:05:52.900 It gives the minority a lot of power, it forces the majority to negotiate with them. 75 00:05:52.900 --> 00:05:56.780 The founders believed this rule would help maintain the concept of a constitutional republic 76 00:05:56.780 --> 00:05:58.700 versus a pure democracy. 77 00:05:58.700 --> 00:06:03.880 In fact, today's defenders of the filibuster call it the soul of the Senate. 78 00:06:03.880 --> 00:06:08.080 Any one Senator can delay things by taking the Senate floor and talking as long as he 79 00:06:08.080 --> 00:06:09.080 wants. 80 00:06:09.080 --> 00:06:12.800 In fact, she can talk on any topic she wants. 81 00:06:12.800 --> 00:06:17.600 You can get up there and read license plates from the Department of Motor Vehicles. 82 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:21.700 One Senator can slow everything down up to a point. 83 00:06:21.700 --> 00:06:26.540 This whole delay tactic can get shut down if you've got 60 Senators that agree to shut 84 00:06:26.540 --> 00:06:28.900 it down and that's called cloture. 85 00:06:28.900 --> 00:06:33.560 That keeps that lone wolf, goofy guy from dominating everything. 86 00:06:33.560 --> 00:06:38.220 His case has to be strong enough to bring 40 other Senators along with him. 87 00:06:38.220 --> 00:06:43.300 The filibuster was established in 1806 but not first used until about 20 years later 88 00:06:43.300 --> 00:06:46.840 and not used often until the 1970s. 89 00:06:46.840 --> 00:06:52.240 But when it has been used, it's so potent that the mere threat of a filibuster forces 90 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:57.040 the majority leader to move on to something else or negotiate. 91 00:06:57.040 --> 00:06:59.420 Otherwise it just takes up Senate floor time. 92 00:06:59.420 --> 00:07:01.000 The filibuster's not a mistake. 93 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:03.280 It's a deliberate Senate rule. 94 00:07:03.280 --> 00:07:04.600 It's an early one too. 95 00:07:04.600 --> 00:07:07.560 It wasn't supposed to be used willy-nilly. 96 00:07:07.560 --> 00:07:10.320 John Adams early on when the Constitution was developed said, 97 00:07:10.320 --> 00:07:16.360 Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. 98 00:07:16.360 --> 00:07:19.500 It's wholly inadequate to the government of any other. 99 00:07:19.500 --> 00:07:21.400 You had to have some built-in constraints. 100 00:07:21.400 --> 00:07:25.040 The rule, this rule, does require some decorum. 101 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:30.600 The notion of Rule 22 was to allow the minority a vote and a voice and to require the majority 102 00:07:30.600 --> 00:07:32.400 to compromise with them. 103 00:07:32.400 --> 00:07:36.360 Initially this could impact everything, appointments, legislation, etc. 104 00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:39.940 It wasn't supposed to be used for every little thing though. 105 00:07:39.940 --> 00:07:43.720 But it does provide an intentional built-in structure to force the Senate toward a type 106 00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:47.360 of legislative behavior, an attitude toward one another. 107 00:07:47.360 --> 00:07:51.340 And in order to change a Senate rule, you've got to have 67 Senators agree. 108 00:07:51.340 --> 00:07:55.780 So in theory, you're never going to realistically be able to change that filibuster rule. 109 00:07:55.780 --> 00:08:00.380 I mean, you only need 34 of the 100 Senators to say no-go. 110 00:08:00.380 --> 00:08:03.540 We're in the minority and we don't want to change the rule. 111 00:08:03.540 --> 00:08:08.240 And with the staggered schedule of the Senate and the six-year term component, there's really 112 00:08:08.240 --> 00:08:13.980 rarely a time when one party doesn't have at least 34% of the Senate. 113 00:08:13.980 --> 00:08:21.860 So Rule 22, which explicitly says you can't change that rule without a supermajority, 114 00:08:21.860 --> 00:08:24.300 should never have been able to be changed. 115 00:08:24.300 --> 00:08:30.260 Unless you look at Rule 20 through a very naughty lens. 116 00:08:30.260 --> 00:08:32.659 And that's what happened in 2013. 117 00:08:32.659 --> 00:08:36.299 So from 1806 to 2013, the Senate changed very little substance. 118 00:08:36.299 --> 00:08:38.380 They clarified cloture. 119 00:08:38.380 --> 00:08:39.880 They added some exceptions. 120 00:08:39.880 --> 00:08:43.880 But in the context of the full Senate agreeing to those clarifications, everybody agreed. 121 00:08:43.880 --> 00:08:47.200 Not in the Senate of 2013. 122 00:08:47.200 --> 00:08:51.120 Democrats were in charge of the Senate at the time, and Obama was president. 123 00:08:51.120 --> 00:08:55.360 The majority was quite frustrated by the ability of the Senate to slow them down, particularly 124 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:58.620 with some of their more radical, lefty appointments. 125 00:08:58.620 --> 00:09:01.800 The Democrats liked Rule 22 when they were in the minority. 126 00:09:01.800 --> 00:09:05.440 But they didn't like Rule 22 when they were in the majority. 127 00:09:05.440 --> 00:09:11.520 So the lawyers who had become Senators found a loophole, and in 2013, the Democrat-controlled 128 00:09:11.520 --> 00:09:16.200 Senate used a technical procedure to vote 52-48 to lower the threshold. 129 00:09:16.200 --> 00:09:20.000 Three Democrats, Senators, and all the Republicans opposed the measure. 130 00:09:20.000 --> 00:09:24.400 A rule change is supposed to require pretty broad agreement. 131 00:09:24.400 --> 00:09:29.240 The idea is that at least 67% of the Senate is supposed to agree on changing the procedures 132 00:09:29.240 --> 00:09:31.760 of how the Senate's going to work. 133 00:09:31.760 --> 00:09:35.920 But they pulled it off with only 52. 134 00:09:35.920 --> 00:09:38.000 Now how'd they do this? 135 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:40.800 They used a clever parliamentary procedure. 136 00:09:40.800 --> 00:09:44.000 Rule 20 is titled, Questions of Order. 137 00:09:44.000 --> 00:09:47.120 It was originally put in place to allow the guy who knew all the rules to rule on the 138 00:09:47.120 --> 00:09:48.120 rules. 139 00:09:48.120 --> 00:09:49.120 To bring clarity. 140 00:09:49.120 --> 00:09:51.120 He's the President Pro Tempore. 141 00:09:51.120 --> 00:09:52.320 He's a Senator. 142 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:55.960 He functions in limited ways as the President of the Senate, kind of temporarily, when the 143 00:09:55.960 --> 00:09:59.340 Vice President, who's the actual President of the Senate, is not there, which is most 144 00:09:59.340 --> 00:09:59.840 of the time. 145 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:04.000 But when he rules on a rule, he can be overruled by a vote of the whole Senate. 146 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:07.100 So, Rule 20, which was established 147 00:10:07.100 --> 00:10:10.500 out the gate in 1789, the 148 00:10:10.500 --> 00:10:13.760 last one of that first batch, was supposed to give the Senate some 149 00:10:13.760 --> 00:10:16.200 accountability on an administrative clarification 150 00:10:16.200 --> 00:10:20.720 of a procedure. Now here's the real clincher. When the majority leader raises a point of 151 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:21.160 order 152 00:10:21.160 --> 00:10:25.120 and is told by the President pro tempore that his point of order is a violation of 153 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:25.720 a rule, 154 00:10:25.720 --> 00:10:29.680 that majority leader can force the question to the whole Senate. 155 00:10:29.680 --> 00:10:33.760 Now this was designed to keep the presiding officer in check. 156 00:10:33.760 --> 00:10:37.600 And when the majority leader challenges the pro tempore, Rule 20 says that when 157 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:39.120 that happens there can be no debate. 158 00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:43.520 The whole Senate votes on the point of order right then. Rule 20 was in place 159 00:10:43.520 --> 00:10:46.800 17 years before Rule 22. 160 00:10:46.800 --> 00:10:49.840 It was simply intended to clarify things, 161 00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:53.840 give a mechanism for that, provide the whole Senate with a mechanism to vote on 162 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:56.080 a clarification or interpretation of a rule. 163 00:10:56.080 --> 00:10:59.480 Rule 20 was not intended to be used to 164 00:10:59.480 --> 00:11:05.040 overrule a rule, especially a rule that came 17 years later. 165 00:11:05.040 --> 00:11:10.040 And particularly since that rule explicitly states that you can't 166 00:11:10.040 --> 00:11:13.080 change it unless you have two-thirds of the Senate 167 00:11:13.080 --> 00:11:16.800 in agreement. Yet the sneaky, 168 00:11:16.800 --> 00:11:20.280 slimy, manipulation of the procedure 169 00:11:20.280 --> 00:11:23.720 worked. The head of the Senate at the time was 170 00:11:23.720 --> 00:11:27.440 Democrat Harry Reid. And here's how it actually came down. Reid says, 171 00:11:28.160 --> 00:11:32.800 I raise a point of order that the vote on cloture under Rule 22 for all 172 00:11:32.800 --> 00:11:35.360 nominations other than for the Supreme Court of 173 00:11:35.360 --> 00:11:40.160 the United States is by majority vote. 174 00:11:40.160 --> 00:11:44.800 So here he's basically proposing to change Rule 22 by point of order 175 00:11:44.800 --> 00:11:50.400 versus this 67 percent of the Senate. The president pro tempore of the Senate 176 00:11:50.400 --> 00:11:54.720 said, under the rules the point of order is not 177 00:11:54.720 --> 00:11:58.400 sustained. So even this guy is a friend of the scheme to help his fellow 178 00:11:58.400 --> 00:12:02.080 Democrat. The presiding officer is saying what everybody already knows. 179 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:07.440 Rule 22 says you can't change it to a majority from a supermajority, 180 00:12:07.440 --> 00:12:11.840 but he also knows what's coming next. Then Reid said, 181 00:12:11.840 --> 00:12:17.760 I appeal the ruling of the chair and ask for the yays and nays. 182 00:12:17.760 --> 00:12:22.160 So according to Rule 20, there has to be an immediate vote on whether or not the 183 00:12:22.160 --> 00:12:25.120 procedure was legit. So all the Republicans and three 184 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:30.720 Democrats said no, but that only came to 48. So 52 Democrats 185 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:34.720 voted to overrule the chair. So now the president pro tempore has to 186 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:39.040 announce the result of this never before used not so honest procedure. 187 00:12:39.040 --> 00:12:42.880 The decision of the chair is not sustained. 188 00:12:42.880 --> 00:12:47.200 So he's basically saying I've just been overruled by all y'all. 189 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:53.200 Wink wink. So the president pro tempore has to close this whole thing out and 190 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:58.080 clarify what just happened. So he says, under the precedent set by the Senate 191 00:12:58.080 --> 00:13:02.560 today, November 21, 2013, the threshold for 192 00:13:02.560 --> 00:13:05.680 cloture on nominations, not including those to the Supreme Court of the United 193 00:13:05.680 --> 00:13:10.480 States, is now a majority. So bam, 194 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:16.880 just like that, they contorted Rule 20 to overrule the specific intent of Rule 195 00:13:16.880 --> 00:13:20.640 22. And they did it without changing any one 196 00:13:20.640 --> 00:13:26.880 of the words of Rule 22. Conniving sons of a guns, aren't they? 197 00:13:26.880 --> 00:13:31.760 Aye, aye, aye. Anyway, executive and judicial nominees would now sail through with 198 00:13:31.760 --> 00:13:35.440 just a thin majority. So they got Obama's federal judges 199 00:13:35.440 --> 00:13:37.360 and all the executive appointments he wanted 200 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:42.080 approved. Notice this maneuver did not include the Supreme Court. 201 00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:46.400 At that time, just a few years ago, that would have peeled off 202 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:49.840 more of the moderate Democrats and they wouldn't have gotten it through. 203 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:53.760 They all knew it was shameful, but they reasoned that it was so complicated the 204 00:13:53.760 --> 00:13:56.480 average voter wouldn't take the time to understand it. 205 00:13:56.480 --> 00:14:00.000 But it was brazen enough to include all the appointments. I mean, for goodness 206 00:14:00.000 --> 00:14:04.000 sakes, George Washington's 1795 nomination for 207 00:14:04.000 --> 00:14:07.760 chief justice was rejected by the Senate. Yeah. 208 00:14:07.760 --> 00:14:13.440 And Washington was elected unanimously. But his guy got stopped by the Senate, 209 00:14:13.440 --> 00:14:16.240 and that was before the filibuster was a specific rule. 210 00:14:16.240 --> 00:14:19.840 George had to move on. I mean, that's the way our system is supposed to work. 211 00:14:19.840 --> 00:14:24.640 Supposed to respect it. So what do you think happened just a few years later? 212 00:14:24.640 --> 00:14:28.640 Well, the Senate became controlled by Republicans. 213 00:14:28.640 --> 00:14:31.760 They were frustrated that the minority Democrats filibustered a qualified 214 00:14:31.760 --> 00:14:36.160 Supreme Court nominee by the name of Neil Gorsuch. So, 215 00:14:36.160 --> 00:14:40.160 in 2017, the majority Republican Senate, partly with a 216 00:14:40.160 --> 00:14:46.880 you started it rationale, used the same Rule 20 technique to reduce the 217 00:14:46.880 --> 00:14:51.840 threshold to a simple majority for a Supreme Court justice. So, to those 218 00:14:51.840 --> 00:14:54.320 liberals who want to get rid of the remainder of the potence of the 219 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:58.560 filibuster, recall that things always come around to the other side. 220 00:14:58.560 --> 00:14:59.840 Because of the initial use of what 221 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.120 became known as this nuclear option, the next Republican president got more federal judges 222 00:15:04.120 --> 00:15:07.940 approved than any other one-time president in history. 223 00:15:07.940 --> 00:15:13.300 And he appointed three conservative Supreme Court justices, all who sailed through on 224 00:15:13.300 --> 00:15:15.840 thin majorities. 225 00:15:15.840 --> 00:15:18.840 Democrats can thank themselves. 226 00:15:18.840 --> 00:15:23.960 Now I'm glad for the total result on the courts, but I'm not for how we got there. 227 00:15:23.960 --> 00:15:28.080 The Democrats should never have weaponized the filibuster to block solid and qualified 228 00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:34.520 appointments, which they started doing way back with Bork in 1987, but that's a whole 229 00:15:34.520 --> 00:15:35.920 nother story. 230 00:15:35.920 --> 00:15:39.880 So what's left with the filibuster? 231 00:15:39.880 --> 00:15:41.560 Major legislation. 232 00:15:41.560 --> 00:15:46.780 A filibuster can still block that, and that is what has happened these past two years 233 00:15:46.780 --> 00:15:49.200 since the Biden era. 234 00:15:49.200 --> 00:15:53.960 The Democrats passed a massive $1.9 trillion bill, which bailed out blue states for bad 235 00:15:53.960 --> 00:15:57.920 management, increased the national debt, gave handouts to special interest and exacerbated 236 00:15:57.920 --> 00:15:58.920 inflation. 237 00:15:58.920 --> 00:16:01.220 They did that through reconciliation. 238 00:16:01.220 --> 00:16:04.600 But they wanted more, and that could only be handled through legislation. 239 00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:10.160 They wanted to radically change how our elections are conducted, to nationalize them, neuter 240 00:16:10.160 --> 00:16:15.000 our constitutional republic, and make it easier for ineligible voters to cheat. 241 00:16:15.000 --> 00:16:20.120 They wanted to discriminate against people of faith and allow for legislation to disrupt 242 00:16:20.120 --> 00:16:26.120 the nuclear family, implementing a system-wide social justice shock. 243 00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:28.760 They wanted unfettered ability to print money. 244 00:16:28.760 --> 00:16:32.720 They wanted a plan that would increase taxes on the most productive small and mid-sized 245 00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:34.000 businesses. 246 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:37.720 They wanted to expand centralized control at every level, socially and medically, and 247 00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:42.840 use Marxist techniques to impose price controls, and manipulate industry toward aggressive 248 00:16:42.840 --> 00:16:48.120 and unproven climate control goals, and expand their racism and gender confusion to every 249 00:16:48.120 --> 00:16:50.640 facet of American life. 250 00:16:50.640 --> 00:16:55.880 And all this, if their legislation went through, would have been enforced by the feds. 251 00:16:55.880 --> 00:16:58.000 But that's not all. 252 00:16:58.000 --> 00:17:01.440 They wanted to abolish the effect of the Tenth Amendment. 253 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:05.680 They wanted to fundamentally reorder the American system. 254 00:17:05.680 --> 00:17:09.960 Through this scheme, they wanted to use the states as captive pawns to implement their 255 00:17:09.960 --> 00:17:12.240 crazy progressive ideas. 256 00:17:12.240 --> 00:17:14.099 They called it Build Back Better. 257 00:17:14.099 --> 00:17:16.520 It probably would have cost $5 trillion. 258 00:17:16.520 --> 00:17:20.839 At the end of the day, it was an extreme way to change the United States from a constitutional 259 00:17:20.839 --> 00:17:24.200 republic to a socialistic nightmare. 260 00:17:24.200 --> 00:17:32.880 Well, these enormous legislative initiatives were stopped, thanks to the filibuster. 261 00:17:32.880 --> 00:17:37.480 So the Democrats got super mad, and they tried to end the filibuster on a party-line vote, 262 00:17:37.480 --> 00:17:39.860 January 19, 2022. 263 00:17:39.860 --> 00:17:43.840 But thankfully, Senator Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, and Senator Sinema, a 264 00:17:43.840 --> 00:17:50.080 Democrat from Arizona, sided with the Republicans, and on a 52-48 vote, the filibuster is still 265 00:17:50.080 --> 00:17:51.080 intact. 266 00:17:51.080 --> 00:17:53.580 Thank you, Senators. 267 00:17:53.580 --> 00:17:56.040 We sure appreciate that. 268 00:17:56.040 --> 00:18:01.200 The role of the filibuster the past two years has been to stop major legislation that honestly 269 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:05.300 would have killed the republic, would have wiped out the electoral college, all kinds 270 00:18:05.300 --> 00:18:08.260 of things that are in the Constitution. 271 00:18:08.260 --> 00:18:12.640 To my progressive friends, you don't want to get rid of the filibuster. 272 00:18:12.640 --> 00:18:18.160 It's not supposed to be easy for government to do major things. 273 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:22.360 When Republicans are back in power in a few months and likely take the presidency in 2024, 274 00:18:22.360 --> 00:18:26.560 do you want them to have full, unfettered power? 275 00:18:26.560 --> 00:18:30.480 At the end of the day, there are good reasons to keep the rule intact. 276 00:18:30.480 --> 00:18:34.400 The Senate should not change the meaning of the rule, nor should it remove it. 277 00:18:34.400 --> 00:18:35.840 I've got like seven reasons. 278 00:18:35.840 --> 00:18:37.360 I'll roll through them real quick. 279 00:18:37.360 --> 00:18:41.400 If the Senate removes the filibuster, it will eliminate the framers' design that the Senate 280 00:18:41.520 --> 00:18:43.560 be a consensus-driven body. 281 00:18:43.560 --> 00:18:46.400 The intent was for it to move deliberately. 282 00:18:46.400 --> 00:18:50.200 The filibuster allows for the minority party to force delay through debate unless there 283 00:18:50.200 --> 00:18:52.080 are 60 votes to end the debate. 284 00:18:52.080 --> 00:18:59.360 This is an intentional tool of negotiation to provide leverage for the minority party. 285 00:18:59.360 --> 00:19:03.700 Number two, if the Senate kills the filibuster, it will turn the Senate into another version 286 00:19:03.700 --> 00:19:08.040 of the House where raw majority rules, where compromises are not required, and where the 287 00:19:08.040 --> 00:19:14.000 passion of the moment and the current majority can overcome reason and sound judgment. 288 00:19:14.000 --> 00:19:17.280 Number three, if the Senate eliminates the filibuster, it will further corrode confidence 289 00:19:17.280 --> 00:19:20.040 in the American way of governance. 290 00:19:20.040 --> 00:19:24.780 Just a few decades ago, the Senate approved cabinet officials, federal judges, and Supreme 291 00:19:24.780 --> 00:19:27.320 Court justices with a wide margin. 292 00:19:27.320 --> 00:19:30.580 Now they do so with an angry party-line vote. 293 00:19:30.580 --> 00:19:36.100 If the Senate ends the filibuster for what's left, the major legislation that it can prevent, 294 00:19:36.100 --> 00:19:41.220 it would create that same type of acrimony for legislation, not just appointments, and 295 00:19:41.220 --> 00:19:45.700 that will further erode public trust. 296 00:19:45.700 --> 00:19:52.100 If the Senate redefines the filibuster, number four, it will remove the constraint on majority 297 00:19:52.100 --> 00:19:53.940 power. 298 00:19:53.940 --> 00:19:58.700 Democrats delayed and stopped numerous Republican initiatives when Republicans were president. 299 00:19:58.700 --> 00:20:00.060 Republicans have done the same when Democrats were president. 300 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:05.120 in power. If we eliminate the filibuster, it eliminates the tool of the minority to 301 00:20:05.120 --> 00:20:10.220 be a check on raw legislative power. What happens when you prevent that is you keep 302 00:20:10.220 --> 00:20:15.180 the United States from becoming too radical. If we eliminate the filibuster, the radicals 303 00:20:15.180 --> 00:20:20.360 from both parties will have their way. Number five, if the Senate breaks this Senate rule, 304 00:20:20.360 --> 00:20:25.160 it will hurt the institution itself. Major legislation that does not have broad bipartisan 305 00:20:25.160 --> 00:20:29.160 support is not good. The filibuster helps keep the USA a government of the people and 306 00:20:29.160 --> 00:20:33.800 by the people. And it honors the separation between the House and the Senate that was 307 00:20:33.800 --> 00:20:39.640 designed in the Constitution in article one. If the Senate changes rule 22 in the current 308 00:20:39.640 --> 00:20:44.560 environment, it's an affront to roughly 50% of the people in the United States. If the 309 00:20:44.560 --> 00:20:50.000 intent of the filibuster was to effectively give 41 senators power, then most assuredly 310 00:20:50.000 --> 00:20:55.760 50% of the Senate should have their voices heard. And finally, number seven, if the Senate 311 00:20:55.760 --> 00:21:01.200 breaks the filibuster rule, it will set up a mechanism of revenge legislation. Whichever 312 00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:05.640 parties in power, they will no longer need to consider the minority party or any of their 313 00:21:05.640 --> 00:21:11.960 ideas. The reality is that government can easily become corrupt and oppressive. That 314 00:21:11.960 --> 00:21:17.240 exists all over the world today and all throughout history. There are tons of examples of governments 315 00:21:17.240 --> 00:21:22.160 that have had way too much control and the consequences are horrible. And at this time 316 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:28.800 right now, 50% of the Senate was elected by people who did not want to have the Democrats 317 00:21:28.800 --> 00:21:33.320 in the majority. It only takes one more Republican senator for the majority to swing back to 318 00:21:33.320 --> 00:21:38.920 the Republicans. It's kind of funny how just a few years ago, the Democrats went on and 319 00:21:38.920 --> 00:21:44.160 on and on and on and on about the importance of the filibuster. Back then, they were in 320 00:21:44.160 --> 00:21:49.280 the minority. Yet the filibuster doesn't apply to everything. Congress's annual budget 321 00:21:49.280 --> 00:21:54.960 reconciliation process requires only a simple majority. And it can't be filibustered. Nor 322 00:21:54.960 --> 00:22:01.040 can the trade agreements or military base closures or arms sales. You know there's 161 323 00:22:01.040 --> 00:22:09.080 exceptions to the filibuster. So you can just pass those without supermajority rule. But 324 00:22:09.080 --> 00:22:17.160 major legislation is still subject to rule 22, the filibuster. Let's keep it that way 325 00:22:18.040 --> 00:22:23.840 Hi, I'm David Farah. Thank you for listening to my dad's podcast, The Barry Farah Show. 326 00:22:23.840 --> 00:22:29.520 Culture Shift. Click subscribe now to be sure you don't miss an episode. Share this podcast 327 00:22:29.520 --> 00:22:34.760 with your friends on social media and give The Barry Farah Show your five-star rating. 328 00:22:34.760 --> 00:22:35.480 See you next time.