Voting not to Vote

I don't care where you stand on gun control or gun safety.  Yesterday, the Senate voted not to vote.  Our government has come to a stand still with the abuse of the filibuster in the Senate and Hastert's rule used in the House. These rules have stolen our representation from us. I am not going to lie and say that I did not support background checks.  If it had failed, I would live with the decision.  The point is it did not fail.  It was filibustered by this ridiculous 60 vote threshold which has been used by a minority to keep any actual governing from being done. There is no such Constitutional rule.  A filibuster should be live, and 51 votes should pass laws in the Senate.

The abuse of the filibuster to keep the majority from passing legislation is about as antidemocracy as it gets.  If you are one of those who thought senators should use the filibuster to stop any bill whether it is on infrastructure or gun control, then you clearly do not support democracy except when it works in your favor.  Guess what, that is not how democracy works.

I don't just blame Republicans for this cowards way of  not doing their job; I blame the majority leader of the senate, Democrat, Harry Reid for it.  He could have gotten rid of it in January, but was so afraid that Democrats might become the minority party and then not have the 60 vote filibuster rule in place for them he kept it. Cowards!  Do your job. Vote!

I am not ignoring you either House Speaker, Republican, John Boehner.  The House has its own form of filibuster these days.  It is called  Hastert's rule.  There is no such official rule, by the way. Representative former Republican Speaker, Daniel Hastert believed that no item should be voted on unless the majority of the majority party in the House would vote for it.  Boehner has carried on the tradition.  With extreme Right who will vote for nothing in the House, it means that we get the same results in the House that we do in the Senate.  This House and the one in 2010 have become under Boehner's leadership, the most non-productive Houses in history. A minority of elected officials have taken our government from us.  Boehner has violated the Hastert rule only four times since the 2012 election. Again, they are so worried about getting caught in a primary, they have decided the best way to keep their ELECTED job is not to do it. Cowards! Do your job. Vote!

As I said, if a bill that I think would be good fails, it fails.  In life we don't always get what we want. What I want, however, is a vote - not a vote that is a vote not to vote. Washington has become the place where all laws, good or bad, go to die.

I for one will be looking at these ELECTED officials in 2014 and 2016, and if they have used those despicable rules to prevent a vote.  Guess who I won't be voting for.

Tell these cowards to do their job. VOTE! If they don't then we should. They have become so fearful of their base, a primary or some special interest group, they've forgotten who they should really be afraid of: we the people. It is time to remind them.

Anyone care to join me?