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Thursday, November 21. 2013

What Was That Again?




Hey Harry, remember that thing about protecting the rights of the minority?  You know, avoiding the tyranny of the majority and other such nonsense?  Yeah, just forget it.  Nevermind.  We're fine with your fascistic stylings.



SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV): "As majority leader, I intend to run the Senate with respect for the rules and for the minority rights the rules protect. The Senate was not established to be efficient. Sometimes the rules get in the way of efficiency. The Senate was established to make sure that minorities are protected. Majorities can always protect themselves, but minorities cannot. That is what the Senate is all about. For more than 200 years, the rules of the Senate have protected the American people, and rightfully so. The need to muster 60 votes in order to terminate Senate debate naturally frustrates the majority and oftentimes the minority. I am sure it will frustrate me when I assume the office of majority leader in a few weeks. But I recognize this requirement is a tool that serves the long-term interest of the Senate and the American people and our country."


-Senator Harry Reid, Congressional Record, S.11591, 12/8/06)





Posted by Bulldog in Politics at 23:53 | Comments (12) | Trackbacks (0)

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In the course of my 75 summers I have had the occasion several times of sitting on various "boards" and to be exposed to the use, misuse, and abuse of parliamentary law.

I am not a parliamentarian or parliamentary lawyer. Most of the times that I have dived into Roberts, Newly Revised, Current Edition to make some fine point, I have had to conclude that I was wrong about that point.

But having confessed that, I will say that on several occasions I have for one reason or another been involved in drafting Bylaws, or extensively revising them. In each of those cases, it turns out that I failed in my attempts to include explicit mention of the rules of parliamentary law that the organization would use (recommending RNRCE so I didn't have to write the whole thing).

The objection is that the PTB did not want be constrained by all that fiddle faddle, etc, yada, and so forth.

The thing that people fail to realize (And that people like Reid want no part of) is that Parliamentary Law as codified in Robert's is designed to protect the rights of the minority in the face of an oppressive majority and that no other protections can exist without it.
#1 Larry Sheldon on 2013-11-22 04:35 (Reply)
That last sentence is something I've repeated to my Liberal friends over, and over, and over, and over again. It's concise and meaningful.

Except to them.

Their response is "but we won, and it's unfair that people who disagree with us get to block what is good, right and just for society."

Which is where the discussion falls apart. These Liberals are so off the rails, they actually think they are doing us a favor, without realizing how oppressive they are.
#1.1 Bulldog on 2013-11-22 08:33 (Reply)
That really is the bottom line. What they think is right and good is in their minds graven in stone. It's settled, unquestionable, fixed forever. Don't you dare question it.
They are fundamentalists. Unfortunately their god is some hideous combination of Baal and Leviathan, huge, evil and stupid.
#1.1.1 bill on 2013-11-22 08:56 (Reply)
I wouldn't use the term 'liberal' - there is nothing 'liberal' in their manner or action - its radical progressiveness, and be damned the consequences.

Harry et al is\are only interested in the results - who cares what\whom it effects now, or in the future, but it is accomplished here and now.

But, just you wait - they loose the Senate, and watch how much woe and misery is reported when they aren't in power, but (conveniently ommited) history why its so will be whitewashed.

Harry et all will never be blamed, it will be slanted "the GOP forced us to do this, and now they're using it against us!!"

I say good - have your moment, but go whole-hog when the GOP gets the reins and ram it down their whining throats - I fear the GOP will (again) will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
#1.1.2 fred zeppelin on 2013-11-22 10:53 (Reply)
Yep - the way to protect people is to take stuff away, eh Harry? Gotta take away the filibuster and the 60 vote cloture procedure, to make the Senate 'work'.

You also mean, like making public land, private, then swooping in and buying it, then selling it to a developer friend? Have evidence of tax violations, then, not present evidence? Funny thing is, the last item is very close to slander and defamation, for my limited law know-how...

Be very careful Harry; what you removed now, will be your outcry when your party looses majority in the future. Said fix will become your albatross...
#2 fred zeppelin on 2013-11-22 08:13 (Reply)
It's like the story of the scorpion and the frog. I don't really blame Reid or Democrats for being the scorpion because that's what they are. But the Rinos too can't seem to help themselves from being the frog. It's bad enough we have to listen to the anti-constitution Democrats justify this latest power grab but now we will have to listen to Graham and McCain and others like them fighting to get in front of the mike to make their sanctimonious speechs and take pot shots at Paul and Cruz. Our politicians are fiddling while our country collapses and we are forced to watch it on TV.
#3 GoneWithTheWind on 2013-11-22 11:02 (Reply)
Is anyone surprised this happened? The only real surprise is that the Democrats waited this long to drop the hammer. As for the Republicans, their only regret now should be their failure to do precisely the same thing when they were in charge. In case it hasn't occurred even yet to our Establishment Republicans, you CANNOT trust the Democrats to keep their promises, you CANNOT negotiate with or work with or depend on them. The Democrats are playing for keeps.
#4 Agent Cooper on 2013-11-22 13:29 (Reply)
No surprise there. Anything to win, consistent principles be damned- that's the Democrat way. Such as changing the rules in Massachusetts for replacing an in-term US Senator three times in the last ten years, according to which party held the governor's chair at the time a sitting Senator had to be replaced. Such as wanting to change the rules for counting ballots in Florida counties in the 2000 Presidential election in Democrat-controlled counties- rules which Democrats themselves had established.
#5 Gringo on 2013-11-22 13:44 (Reply)
So why doesn't the GOP now engage in real filibusters in these hearings? And on every matter. And here's an idea, no matter what the topic is, just get up and start taking about the evils of Obamacare and how the Democrats are destroying America and the tyranny of the White House. I would think Ted Cruz could organize the effort.
#6 Jim on 2013-11-22 14:27 (Reply)
You forget the RINOs - Graham, McCain, McConnell, Snow, ect.

They will never play that game, nor take that tact. For them, kowtowing to Harry, Nancy, Joe Plugs, and Pinocchio are far more advantageous than supporting the party and fostering the young up-n-comers whom will take over.

Can't have some young upstart ruining the pork and cocktail parties, don't 'cha know, with the wild talk of the Constitution, fulfilling your elected duty\responsibility, and, gosh, standing up for your local Joe\Jane Sixpack. Geez!

The polls be damned - you gotta support what is here and now, not some pie-n-the-sky notion of 'freedom', 'liberty', and all that other stuff...
#6.1 fred zeppelin on 2013-11-22 15:32 (Reply)
I think that's a key point. McConnell may have warned Reid about this, but McConnell also wanted to do the same thing 8 years ago when he had the majority.

RINOs are as despicable as they come. Sure, we're backing them today, but someday they will use this to push someone through who is objectionable, just as the Democrats are now.

I pointed out to my Liberal friends when they proclaimed "tyranny of the minority is just as bad as tyranny of the majority" that the filibusters hardly amounted to abuse or tyranny. The fact remains the two sides are now BOTH so extremely dangerous, it's no surprise the Republicans block so many appointees. The appointees themselves are for positions that shouldn't exist Constitutionally (the consumer bureau) or are supporting positions which are fundamentally opposed to our US traditions and being appointed to permanent seats.

It's a GOOD thing this 'abuse' is taking place, and it does NOT amount to tyranny of the minority at all. The majority can always take care of itself. The minority has precious few options available.
#6.1.1 Bulldog on 2013-11-22 16:14 (Reply)
"The Senate was established to make sure that minorities are protected. Majorities can always protect themselves, but minorities cannot."

By that, Reid meant that less populous states like his Nevada are not to be overwhelmed by populous states like California has become. The Senate gives smaller states a protection through equal representation that, by Original Design, the House does not. But these days, no Democrat actually believes in the sanctity of the Senate. All Democrats want the President to be elected by popular vote. They fume at the Electoral College. Short of rewriting the Constitution to abolish the Senate, they will look for any scheme that will erase the electoral safeguards that were put into the Constitution by the Founding Fathers in order to gain greater power to further their agenda.
#7 Agent Cooper on 2013-11-22 21:39 (Reply)

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