Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced the Senate will vote soon on easing filibuster rules in an effort to advance stalled voting legislation that Democrats say is needed to protect America’s democracy.
The short version is that Dems want just 50 votes to pass HR 1, For the People Act, their desperate attempt to hold on to power.
Two holdout Democrats, Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, have voiced their opposition to ending the filibuster arguing that if Republicans take over during the mid-term elections, they will use it against the Democrats. And trust me when I say – they will.
HR1 is one of the most lawless bills ever to pass through the House. The bill begins by declaring that contrary to Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, Congress has an “ultimate supervisory power over federal elections.” That is a lie.
The Constitution designates the “enumerated powers” of the federal government and leaves all other policymaking to the states. The Founders believed in the principle of subsidiarity, those who govern closest to the people govern best. Subsidiarity simply means issues are handled best by those in the least centralized authority.
Under Article II, Section 1, further confirmed by the 12th Amendment, the federal government has only one election job and that is setting the national date for voting and certification by the Electoral College. The responsibility of state legislatures to direct election protocols is foundational and authoritative and has never been challenged on a national level until now.
The Constitution makes voters’ qualifications rest on state law even in federal elections. A State may if it chooses require voters to pass literacy tests, provided of course that literacy is not used as a cloak to discriminate against one class or group. In exercising power, the Congress may supplement the state regulations or may substitute its own by imposing additional penalties for the violation of the state laws or provide independent sanctions.
While the nearly 800 page For The People Act purports to, “expand Americans access to the ballot box, reduce the influence of big money in politics, strengthen ethics rules for public servants, and implement other anti-corruption measures for the purpose of fortifying our democracy,” it is in reality meritless, militant, social engineering that targets the very foundations of the Constitution, voting rights and political free speech.
It bans voter ID laws and allows ballot harvesting; expands Election Day to Election Season by mandating that mail-in ballots be counted 10 days after the election is over; requires automatic voter registration of everyone (not just citizens) that applies for unemployment, Medicaid, Medicare, ObamaCare, a driver’s license, welfare, Social Security, etc. and felons released from prison, etc.
There is a lot more and it gets substantially worse. There are 1st Amendment restrictions on political speech and on the support or opposition of a bill or a candidate enforced by the IRS. The bill also transfers the right to draw congressional districts from state legislatures to unaccountable independent commissions and limits access to federal courts for anyone challenging the bill. And maybe the worst, it gives Congress the authority to make the District of Columbia our 51st state, handing Democrats two additional Senate seats.
The lack of statehood for the nation’s Capital is enshrined in the Constitution in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17 which reads in part: “Congress shall have Power to…exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States.”
It was James Madison who outlined the reasoning behind this provision in his Federalist Paper #43. In essence, the founders were worried that if the capital of the nation were to ever become a state, the government would be “unduly” beholden to give it too much power over the entire nation. D.C. as a state would be able to “insult” or “interrupt” the proceedings of government to get their way by virtue of physical proximity to the halls of power.
HR 1 trashes the U.S. Constitution in an attempt to rig the system and make it virtually impossible to elect a Republican president or Congress again. It’s a power grab.
Source: HR 1 – Is it Really “For the People”? by Chris Farrell, Gatestone Institute; Pelosi’s HR1 bill a blatant power grab for Democrats by Betsy McCaughey, former Lt Governor of New York, The Boston Herald; D.C. Will Never Be a State by Franklin County Patriots.
