By John E. Warren
The current uproar over the leaked draft of the U.S. Supreme Court’s anticipated Decision on Abortion Rights is another example of the Republican Right Wing effort to eliminate democracy under the cover of the very Constitution which provides all our democratically protected rights. We have seen the attack on Voting Rights by the actions of the Republicans in the U.S. Senate who refused to support not only the Voting Rights Act but also the John Lewis Act and the legislation coming out of the George Floyd murder.
These are the same Republicans who we now know plotted to overthrow the U.S. Government on January 6, 2021, with their efforts to stop the certification of President Joseph Biden as President of the United States. These are the same Senators who prevented former President Obama from making a United States Supreme Court nomination while these same Republican Senators rushed through two conservative nominations who are now a part of the long-awaited overthrow of Roe v. Wade.
What we do know is that Primary Season is upon us and that we all have a chance to make some choices and changes if we look closely at who is running for what offices around this country and in our own backyard. “We” the people, must not lose control of the U.S. House of Representatives, nor the U.S. Senate. The Senate hangs on “one” vote tied at 50/50 because of the two Independents that vote with the Democrats.
We now know that what we saw with Voter Suppression laws in over 22 States was just the beginning. Roe v. Wade is the second step in the attack on Civil Rights following Voter Suppression. Next, we are seeing references to changing such Constitutional rights as the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection and Due Process guarantees, as well as provisions of the Civil rights Act.
We should not get overwhelmed with the magnitude of the attacks but rather understand and remember that our votes represent the solutions to preserving our rights. Congress, using the legislative process, has the ability to reverse and codify, if necessary, any Decisions that the United States Supreme Court makes. This is the strength of our separation of powers under the Constitution. But that can only happen if we have the votes in the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.
If we return to the idea of killing the “Filibuster Rule” in the Senate, making it no longer necessary to have 60 votes instead of 50 plus one, with the Vice President as the tiebreaker, then we could get about the business of governance. President Biden did not fight hard enough to break the Filibuster and he knows better than most having spent 38 years in the U.S. Senate. The Democrats in the Senate cannot be so afraid of losing control of the Senate in the next election, that they allow McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, to continue to control the Senate because he controls the Filibuster.
“We” the people, must follow the example of the people of the State of Georgia and realize that “All Black Votes Matter” and must be voted and counted if we are to survive the lynching and extermination that a few have planned for so many of us. Where do you stand?