Breaking Political Norms

When it comes to breaking political norms, which party should we be more concerned about?

One of the bigger pieces of election news this week is Kamala Harris’ support for eliminating the filibuster to restore abortion rights. She told Wisconsin Public Radio (WPR) on Monday, “I think we should eliminate the filibuster for Roe”. You can find the full details here.

Regardless of your feelings on abortion, no one should be happy about this. Eliminating the 60 vote threshold to pass major legislation in the Senate removes all need to work across the aisle with the opposing party to find compromise. This promotes a winner take all mentality and, when a single party controls the House, Senate and Presidency, could mean major and abrupt shifts in US policy. This legislative whiplash will be bad for our political system and our economy. Businesses rely on a stable political and regulatory environment to make long term investments. Citizens rely on stable institutions.

Defenders of the idea will reply to the previous argument that this is just one carve out specifically for abortion protection. But we shouldn’t be that naive. Chuck Schumer, as recently as August 1st, suggested that if the Democrats sweep in November the filibuster will be on the chopping block for abortion protections and a pair voting rights bills. You don’t have to look far for other “priorities” that Democrats will find to add to the special carve outs for the filibuster. Supreme court “reform”? Right to work reform? Statehood for DC or Puerto Rico? Once the filibuster gets bypassed the first time it will invite future instances for “must pass” legislation.

And don’t think it will end there… fast-forward four years and imagine a red wave sweeps congress and the executive. Do you think Republicans will sit idly by and forget about the now merely inconvenient filibuster? Of course not. What would stop them from reversing the legislation rammed through by Democrats for the previous four years? What about a nationwide abortion ban? Right to work in all states? And the list goes on…

You don’t even have to look back far to find an example of when the short-sightedness of Democratic norm-busting backfired. In 2013, Harry Reid and the Democrats ended the filibuster for lower court judges after Republicans were blocking President Obama’s nominees. Just a few short years later, when Democrats filibustered Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, Republicans returned the favor by eliminating the filibuster for Supreme Court nominees as well. And what followed was lurch of the Supreme Court to the right that could have only been possible thanks to original norm breaking by the Democrats to remove the filibuster. After all, Mitch McConnell did warn Democrats in 2013, “You’ll regret this, and you may regret this a lot sooner than you think”.

Democrats and most of the media like to warn about the political norm busting history of Donald Trump, which is true. His failure to recognize the outcome of the 2020 election is the most prominent but hardly the only norm busted by the Trump presidency. However, they fail to point out that Democrats have a history of busting political norms too. Removal of the filibuster, even for special circumstances as in 2013, is bound to further degrade our democracy and political discourse in this country. It will promote a winner take all approach to legislation by both parties that removes the need for compromise.

If we want to prevent further damage to our political system, it’s crucial for voters and policymakers to demand accountability and resist the temptation of short-term wins over long-term stability. The filibuster should be off the table by both parties.