Biden Thread

[Montmorency]

OK, I've kind of conditioned myself into expecting less of Democrats, but here is what they "should" be structurally reforming to secure their (and our) long-term interest:

1. Abolish filibuster
2. Admit, at a minimum, DC.
3. Voting Rights Act banning gerrymandering, maintaining all the various expansions seen in 2020 + automatic registration, reinstating federal preclearance for offenders who break the law or don't meet minimum standards. <Stuff that I'm missing ATM.>
4. Expand federal judiciary from District to SCOTUS.

This achieves the simultaneous and interlocking goals of reducing Republican structural advantages in the House and Senate (with knock-on effects for state/local politics) and preventing the Republican judiciary from unduly interfering with Democratic governance. In the long term this is necessary both to address some of the conditions that Greyblades fairly, albeit unconsciously, gestured at as having generated our current predicament, and to limit the probability of Republicans in their fascist form securing unified governments in the first place.

Because to be frank, there isn't going to be as big a difference as some seem to imagine between a filibuster-extant and filibuster-extinct scenarios. The extremism ratchet goes only one way, and only a paradigm shift (enabled by aforementioned structural reforms) is sufficient to counteract it.

If Republicans want to take an opportunity to ban abortion and unions and terminate Social Security, that just means we can Build Back Better before it's too late.


This is what I would demand from the Democratic caucus if I understood them as fungible, generic actors properly motivated by the greater good and a clear-eyed apprehension that it's better to pay the firefighters less sooner than more later to douse your infernal house.

If they have to psych themselves up to it by letting Republicans screw around for a few months, I can tolerate that, but I'm not sure it's what's going on. But I set the expectations for myself long ago when I predicted that there was no chance of deep structural change without at least 52 or 53 Dem Senators, so I'm not going to get lathered over baked-in

[Hooahguy]

If they have to psych themselves up to it by letting Republicans screw around for a few months, I can tolerate that, but I'm not sure it's what's going on. But I set the expectations for myself long ago when I predicted that there was no chance of deep structural change without at least 52 or 53 Dem Senators, so I'm not going to get lathered over baked-in

McConnell seems to have caved on his demand that Dems promise to preserve the filibuster. Maybe Sinema and Manchin will reverse down the line when they see how McConnell's words of bipartisanship are in bad faith. Not holding my breath, but we will see. I do think public pressure from their constituents can help move the needle for them on this. Though if people want to see how the moderate wing of the Senate Dems are thinking, we should be paying attention to Bennet and Coons.

[ReluctantSamurai]

The countries that are going to be of increasing importance in the next decade:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...ves-worldwide/

Lithium is used primarily in batteries, glass and ceramics, with other uses including rocket fuel and lasers. The global lithium battery market is projected to grow substantially in coming years, from 30 billion U.S. dollars in 2017 to over 100 billion U.S. dollars by 2025. The electric vehicle market will propel the growth of the lithium market as the number of hybrid and electric vehicles powered by rechargeable lithium batteries picks up. In 2018 the top producers of lithium battery cells were estimated to be Panasonic Sanyo, CATL, BYD, and LG Chem. It is expected that Germany, China, Japan, and France will be leading electric vehicle producing countries.

[rory_20_uk]

The countries that are going to be of increasing importance in the next decade:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...ves-worldwide/

Turkey is ramping up production and there is to be a mine in the UK - both cases using geothermal waste water. If this works, quite a few other countries will probably follow suit.

[ReluctantSamurai]

Samurai, as much as Manchin drives you to handwringing, a challenger approaches.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/0...ibuster-462364

“If I haven’t said it very plain, maybe Sen. McConnell hasn’t understood, I want to basically say it for you. That I will not vote in this Congress, that’s two years, right? I will not vote” to change the filibuster, Manchin (D-W.Va.) said in an interview on Monday afternoon. “And I hope with that guarantee in place he will work in a much more amicable way.”

Seems to me that Manchin is as delusional as Biden about the willingness of the GOP to compromise, and he is definitely relishing his new found power within Congress. What do I know....I'm just an old country boy from the Wolverine State? But it seems clear to me that the GOP strategy is/will be to block-block-block until the 2022 mid-terms where they plan/hope to reclaim Congress. Say whatever you wish about Dr. No, but he's definitely as savvy as they come at politics. And anyone who thinks he doesn't have a plan to get himself back into the Senate Majority seat is delusional.

That's not to say that the effort shouldn't be made for bi-partisanship. But when that effort is snubbed by the GOP, the Dems had better grow some cohonees and forge ahead on their own while they can. And abolishing the filibuster will be one of those tools in the box. If Dems hope to avoid the historical back-slide in the mid-terms following a presidential election, then the best way to do that is pass legislation that actually helps the other 99% of Americans who aren't in the privileged elite.