An opinion that finally gets it right about the ARRRP

It's long overdue: A WaPo opinion by Jennifer Rubin says what has been obvious for years about the authoritarian radical right Republican Party:

Senate Democrats must enact rules changes. Comity is long gone

Once upon a time, we had two functional parties that respected the rule of law, the outcome of elections and the norms necessary to preserve democratic governance. In that world, the filibuster was rarely invoked, an incapacitated member could be replaced on committee, indicted or even “merely” disgraced members would resign voluntarily and blue slips and single-member holds on appointments were not abused.

Those days are long gone.

Today’s Republican Party effectively refuses to allow the other side to govern when it wins elections. Republicans denied President Barack Obama the opportunity to replace the deceased Justice Antonin Scalia (but allowed a Republican president to jam through a Supreme Court niminee after voting had begun in 2020). Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) has held up hundreds of military appointments for months; at various times, individual Republicans have refused to allow votes on State Department or Justice Department nominees.

When the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) was incapacitated by illness this year, Republicans refused to allow Democrats to replace her on the Judiciary Committee. (After her death last week, Republicans appear willing to allow Democrats to fill her committee seat.) Meanwhile, Republicans’ blue slips have periodically stalled confirmation of judicial nominees.

This is the nature of the MAGA Republican Party. It cares not one whit for governing and considers Democrats’ electoral victories of no consequence. (The latest game: Make baseless impeachment threats to hamper duly elected Democrats from fulfilling their duties, as they’re doing with President Biden and a newly elected Supreme Court judge in Wisconsin.) Pleading with individual Republicans to break ranks or offering trade after trade to accommodate those acting in bad faith is useless. Worse, it blurs responsibility for chaos, paralysis and gridlock.

This is the nature of the MAGA Republican Party. It cares not one whit for governing and considers Democrats’ electoral victories of no consequence. (The latest game: Make baseless impeachment threats to hamper duly elected Democrats from fulfilling their duties, as they’re doing with President Biden and a newly elected Supreme Court judge in Wisconsin.) Pleading with individual Republicans to break ranks or offering trade after trade to accommodate those acting in bad faith is useless. Worse, it blurs responsibility for chaos, paralysis and gridlock.

The problem is Republicans’ insistence on denying the key component of a democracy: the power of the people to elect the leaders of their choice to govern. Republicans have grown attached to tactics that perpetuate minority rule, including thwarting voting (e.g., filibustering voting rights legislation) and denying election results (e.g., signing onto a brief to disenfranchise millions of Americans, baselessly challenging Biden’s electors). 

Even small changes in Senate rules could have a big impact. For example, blue slips and holds could have a time limit (e.g., 90 days), allowing members’ concerns to be aired without thwarting the majority. 

Likewise, a party should be able to fill seats on committees after the incapacitation or death of a member without “permission” of the other party. Indicted senators should be removed from and replaced on committees related to the indictment. Hearings on Supreme Court nominees could be required to commence within 90 days of a nomination. 

Democrats for too long have been squeamish about allowing actual majority votes (or, rather, majority rule). The Constitution specified supermajorities in specific cases (e.g., treaties, Senate removal after an impeachment). It was never intended to be the norm.

Democracies that do not allow majorities to govern lose legitimacy. Simply put: We need to shore up democracy.  

After all, GOP shenanigans have shown that Republicans cannot be trusted to operate in good faith under the rules. The only alternative is to change those rules — or succumb to the evisceration of our democracy.

So, there's one more mind that has finally become aware. The ARRRP does not operate in good faith. Someone finally publicly said it. Rubin sees and articulates the nature and magnitude of the severe ARRRP threat to democracy, civil liberties, the rule of law, honest, transparent governance and the public interest.

This in no way means that Dems can stop trying for bipartisanship. They should keep publicly trying, but without letting that get in the way of doing what can still be done to protect democracy and the public interest. Offer bipartisanship, but don't let that slow anything down or be any barrier to doing what can still be done. The open question asks whether it is too late to significantly shore democracy up. It might already be too late.