You’ve probably seen Raphael Warnock’s maiden Senate speech by now.
If you haven’t, treat yourself. It is America at its best.
Reverend Warnock is senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta — Martin Luther King, Jr.’s pulpit.
He did his predecessor proud.
Chip Ellis: “Here’s an idea: Keep the filibuster . . . but instead of requiring 60 senators to break it and allow a bill to come up for a vote — 60% of the Senate — make it 60% of the population they represent. Each Senator’s vote would be half of their state’s % of US total population based on the last census.”
→ This is really kind of brilliant. Senators representing just 40.1% of the country could still thwart the will of 59.9% — never fear! We would still be a “minority rules” democracy.
Each Wyoming voter would still have 60 times the clout in the Senate as each California voter . . . except when it came to votes on “cloture.”
California’s 12% of the U.S. population would be accorded 12% of the say in whether to allow a vote, compared to a tiny say for Wyoming.
But when a bill did come up for a vote, California’s 37 million denizens would be accorded no more Senate votes than the Wyoming’s 563,000. Each, as now, would get 2.
Discuss.
And have a great weekend.
