Filibuster rule needs to go to end gridlock in Congress
Let’s see now … 90% of the American people support universal background checks to purchase guns; 75% of the American people support the ratification of the ERA; 80% of Americans believe human activity is fueling climate change; the majority of Americans have positive views toward immigration and immigrants; 70% of Americans favor extending full rights to our LGBTQ citizens; and, lastly, there is solid support for the protection of voting rights for all.
Will any of the various bills intended to address these important issues be able to see the light of day in the U.S. Senate during this session? To be honest, not likely. Why? Because of an archaic Senate rule, the filibuster, which first occurred in 1837 and was later modified in 1975 to require support from 60 Senators for any non-bipartisan bill to move forward.
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With a simple majority vote, the filibuster could be removed. We all know the filibuster has created gridlock in the Senate, with little to no success in achieving bipartisan support for legislation the American people clearly support.
Of particular interest right now is S 1, the For the People Act, which will protect that most precious of democratic rights: the right to vote. With the passage of S 1, we will see national guidelines in place that will expand voter registration, limit the purging of voter rolls, improve cybersecurity of our election systems, end partisan gerrymandering and expand disclosure rules for campaign spending, among other provisions. It even calls for the release of 10 years of tax returns for both vice presidential and presidential candidates.
The Senate needs to act immediately to eliminate the filibuster and to move forward with passage of the For The People Act and all the other long-awaited, overdue legislation the American people want to see enacted! Enough with gridlock: let’s do this!
Indivisible Naperville
Dianne McGuire
Nancy Turner
Barb O’Meara
Beth Wendt
Lisa Rose
Jean Page
Lyndsey Kokoris
Bev George
Rebecca Gamboa
Paulette Goodman
Kate Refine
Lisa Yost
American flag not displayed correctly at intersection
The American flag at Ogden Avenue and Royal St. George Drive is not flying right. It is supposed to be in the middle of the three flags and should fly higher than the other two.
The homeowners association, however, does have a sign posted there notifying members to pay their dues.
Guess they’ve got their priorities straight.
Charles Brown, Naperville
Thomas completely misrepresents Dem Party history
Shame on Opinion writer Cal Thomas (Naperville Sun, June 23) for using the old racist trope, “but the Democrats were the racists” to discredit the Democratic Party.
The “facts” Mr. Thomas cites are from a far-right source, The Washington Examiner, which routinely fails fact checks and publishes propaganda.
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No, the Democratic Party did not start the civil war, nor did it start the Ku Klux Klan. He conflates a few individuals with the entire party. Mr. Thomas fails to mention the realignment of the Democratic Party in the mid-20th century.
That his column appears across from the article, “GOP blocks debate on election bill,” in which Republicans voted unanimously against even discussing voting rights, makes this whataboutism finger wag particularly propagandistic and disingenuous.
The Democratic Party proposes that eligible voters, no matter what you look like or where you live, have a vote. The Republican Party has drafted more than 360 bills in 47 states aimed at making voting harder for “some people,” disproportionately racial minorities, college students, the elderly and disabled.
Some of those laws additionally allow state Senate electors to overturn the will of the people without evidence of fraud.
That is not democracy — that is autocracy. The Republican Party upholds the Big Lie of election fraud (President Biden and Vice President Harris won fairly) and voted against a bipartisan Jan. 6 Insurrection Commission.
Mr. Thomas has no words for the indefensible — the attack on the rights of voters and the subversion of the votes that are cast. Given his party’s deplorable civil rights record and denial of the rightful winner of a presidential election, it should be Republicans who look in the mirror and face a reckoning for their assaults on our democracy.
Karen V. Peck, Naperville
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