(#4696) They are finally feeling the desperation we have felt for months

      Members of the senate are finally feeling the desperation that the many of us have been feeling since republicans in the states have been gerrymandering districts and restricting access to the ballot box. I am starting to see reporting from the national media that reflects our desperation. I don't know why it has taken the national media so long to understand that our democracy is hinging on whether we pass voting rights protections but welcome to the fight if indeed you are here to help. The few democratic senators in the senate who are holding onto the filibuster as it is without doing a carve out for voting rights protections are going to have to change their position.
     There is no other solution unless somehow 10 republicans decide to vote for a voting rights protections bill that joe manchin has authored. It is possible especially if they fear that manchin will acquiesce and allow for a filibuster carve out which could be a more equity based bill other than manchin's. We will see but at least we are seeing the beginning of some possible movement now that the national media is beginning to report about the precarious nature of our democracy. If all along manchin and sinema's desire to leave the filibuster alone was based on their reading of no real threat to our democracy then they are about to get a rude awakening.
     If their disconnect with reality has been that this senate rule was untouchable then they will know that they will be the ones who let our democracy crumble and allow for trump and his surrogates to regain power without democratic checks to their thirst for lifetime rule. I have been lambasting manchin and to a lesser extent sinema for months on this issue and rightly so because I am a defender of democracy who can see the utter contempt republicans have for our way of government. The republican party is in fear of not being in power because they don't want all Americans to participate in our democracy. That is why they are incessantly trying to block voters who traditionally vote against them and they use white nationalism to stoke a base that is not under attack by "others" contrary to their demagoguery on the subject.