Sen. Sanders: Want to know why the US Senate is dysfunctional?

[cal04]

https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/515147473870807041/photo/1

[Thinkingabout]

1. Dysfunctional means they refuse to work for the good of the nation. I was happy in the recent bill

being passed with votes from both parties. All members of Congress has to work together in order to get bills they are interested in passed, if they do not support others bills then they will not get anything passed. Taking a rigid stand will have likewise returned. Who suffers, the American public does.

[1StrongBlackMan]

12. This thinking will not be met well here ...

even though it reflects how the government was set up to work and has worked for the last 200+ years.

[daleanime]

17. I have to disagree.....

most every one here seems willing to work toward a better future, but where's the middle ground in starting another series of bombings?

[1StrongBlackMan]

18. There isn't any ...

but, no matter how much DU wants it to be, the M.E. (no pun intended, but completely appropriate) is NOT the totality of the issues dealt with in Congress ... and has NOTHING to do with what Sanders was talking about.

[daleanime]

19. Used as an example.....

another would be where's the middle ground when your talking to some one who still thinkings shutting down the government is a good idea?



Or that any form of welfare makes people lazy?



Or any kind of gun legislation violates their second amendment rights?


Etc......

[1StrongBlackMan]

31. Okay, I understand ...

But let me offer a counter-example that gets to want Sanders is, also, saying ...

Take Healthcare (financing) ... the left wanted single-payer, the right wanted status quo (or worse) ... we got the ACA, as a part of the deliberative/governing process ... the left refuses to accept the result of the process.

[cascadiance]

33. You mean ACA was passed OVERCOMING Republican obstruction through budget reconciliation...

... which should have been used to pass many other bills that should have been passed for the American people. Even the corporate people in the Democratic Party that don't completely yet control the party the way they do the Republicans, knew that if they wanted to have any continued control over the Democratic Party, they'd need to pass something, even if it was watered down without single payer and the public option, but preserved a lot of profits for the insurance company leaches.

The problem is that today, with money controlling so much of our political process, that the only way to "meet" and pass legislation with members of both parties is if you have the "blessing" of passing such legislation by the corporate sector who owns enough of both parties to keep anything else that would threaten them from passing in a bipartisan fashion.

I do believe, that if we had a decent media that would really try to report more objectively on issues and not herd people in to divergent camps of "loyal viewers" towards the one side or the other, we'd have more awareness at some point from more intelligent members of both parties that a lot of our views DO converge and are views that we should joining forces on getting changes made, even if the corporate controllers of both parties representing the 1% hate those views that support a majority of American people.

Those kind of issues are the kind that Ralph Nader talks about in his book as I understand it, and I think are the opportunity that we must exploit and find a way to wake up both sides that we should focus more on these issues and less on the issues that the corporate media and the money controlled congress want us to focus on that divide us on social issues to keep us distracted from the destruction of the well being of a majority of Americans.

[The Wizard]

43. in a word

fascist

[hueymahl]

50. The "left" refuses to accept the ACA?!?!

Are you f'ing kidding me?!? The "left" may have its issues with the ACA, but the"left" has not had 50+ votes trying to repeal it.

Perhaps you may want to rephrase that statement. I'm sure you did not mean to sound like a republican.

[1StrongBlackMan]

51. Are you suggesting the near daily ...

scouring for, and posting of, negative ACA article/OPs followed by "That's why we need single-payer" comments is a sign of acceptance?

[hueymahl]

52. Are you suggesting that comments on a discussion forum are equivalent to legislative action?

Because if you were, that would be a stupid argument.

[1StrongBlackMan]

54. No, I am suggesting no such thing. eom.

[sabrina 1]

42. Both parties have the right to filibuster. However, Democrats hardly ever do it, we are told because

Republicans might 'blame' them for something. How do you deal with this, do the same thing. So long as they know Dems are afraid to use the filibuster, they will continue to use it. When Dems fight back they might think twice about using it themselves.

[freshwest]

24. I rec'd it but I can't see anything at the link. He is getting trolled by GOP comments, though.

[Thinkingabout]

26. Just how would you propose to get any bill passed without getting the votes to pass it?

That would be a first to have a bill passed without a majority, don't know about others but you sure would not like some of the GOP crap passed without a majority of votes.

[1StrongBlackMan]

30. No. I agree with you ...

the lubricant of governance is compromise; but, increasingly since 1994, on the right, that concept has been ignored. And as of late, that concept is, absolutely, toxic on the right AND on the left.

[cascadiance]

37. It's because ANYTHING having a chance to pass has to have corporate lobbyist blessings!

Since with the current system in place, corporate lobbyists basically control THE party in charge of our government, which has splinters of both "Republicans" and "Democrats" in it to masquerade as a two party system now.

Those on the left are TIRED of being told to just "accept" the corporate BS that controls our government now that has created the huge wealth divide and economic and environmental mess we live in now that may kill off the planet within a century. Many are of the left are RIGHT when they are just saying NO towards continuing making the mistakes that have buried us as a nation.

At some point the messages will break through the corporate media barriers (that they try to reinforce by tearing down net neutrality, etc.) and a majority of the people will realize that we have a sever cancer in our government now that needs to have some severe chemotherapy applied to it or we as a nation and as a world of people won't survive much longer.

[Thinkingabout]

44. Those in the middle does not have a chance, we need jobs but the right is hell bent on causing

Failure so we suffer.

[InkAddict]

46. Reverse psychology

Join me in suffering the right into rage and self-consuming extinction, LOL. Someone's gonna pay and once I'm thoroughly broken and there's nothing left to take but I'm still breathing well, we'll see what's next, huh?

[Scarsdale]

48. Missions accomplished!!

During President Obama's FIRST Innauguration, a group of gop'ers got together and planned this. They decided NOTHING would be accomplished by this President. McConnel even said "My priority is to make sure this President is a one term president" Who cares about the people of Kentucky? Not that weak chinned ass.

[Scuba]

2. If only there was some way to limit the filibustering. Some rule or something Harry Reid could use.

If Republicans capture the Senate in November, you'll see and end to the current rule.

[jwirr]

5. Harry has had a lot of chances to get rid of the filibuster and the only thing he did was get rid of

it when there is someone being nominated to the federal court and department heads.

[madokie]

8. Be careful of what you wish for

republicons will run over the dems if not for the filibuster during times of a puke majority, house and senate/president

[jwirr]

9. I know. And I also know that is why he hesitates. But we may lose our country for long term control.

[Scuba]

10. They'll end the filibuster rule the minute they control the Senate.

[1StrongBlackMan]

13. So we work our butts off to ensure that they never gain control. eom.

[Action_Patrol]

20. Nuke

No, they won't. They know the stakes. They lost their minds over Reid and the so called 'nuclear option' being used for Judicial Nominees. It's a powerful tool and they wouldn't dare. The shoe always has a magical way of being on someone else's foot.

[Scuba]

21. "... they wouldn't dare." Bwahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaa.

These are the same guys who shut the government down and you say they wouldn't dare change a Senate rule that most Americans don't even know exists?

[Action_Patrol]

23. Yes.

Keep laughing. You have the house to blame for the shut down. They have no such tactic there.
It is a tool for the minority. You take it away and you lose it for yourself.
As frustrated and angry as we all got over the Republicans blocking Obama's nominees with a Democratic majority in the senate, imagine the anger within our party if and when we lose the legislative and executive branches.

[madokie]

36. That was porky ie. cruz that shut the government down

he never really had much backing on that. The filibuster is a whole different ball game all together. Remember the cat killer threatened to a few times when he was majority leader but they really didn't want to do it then cause they know that the leadership has a tendency to shift back and forth with the whims of the public.
I say we work making sure we have majority this election is what we need to do
IMO

[uponit7771]

29. Yes they no doubt will, they "knew" the stakes when they held the country ransom and lowered our

...credit rating and didn't give two damns

There's no reason to think they wouldn't give two damns about the filibuster rule

[uponit7771]

28. +1

[Marr]

11. Exactly. The whole situation is way to cozy and convenient.

[world wide wally]

3. Historically, before the corporate media went on steroids, this was called "sabotage"

Now it's just not referred to.

[Octafish]

4. Would make a great campaign slogan!

You know, tell the People.

[mindwalker_i]

6. One is tempted to wonder why it hasn't already been

It seems like, all too often, our people don't say these things or hammer them home. The Republicans ran on More Jobs in 2010, then didn't do shit to actually create jobs. In fact, quite the opposite. Then campaigns of Dems just sort of mentioned that there was obstruction and stuff, but didn't push the issue. Why not?

[Octafish]

7. Makes me think they're part of a show, the Jersey Generals to the Harlem Globetrotters.

Election after election, the issues are there. The facts are there. All it takes is stating them out loud.

Instead, we're led to focus on one issue -- in Michigan it's the Koch Brothers' influence -- rather than spelling out what Koch and the pukes have done in Lansing and Washington to enrich themselves at our expense.

If it were a real opportunity for the People to voice our wishes, there'd be no war and in its place a New New Deal humming. People would have jobs. People would go to great schools for free. People would enjoy healthcare, shelter and food as basic human rights. Instead, we have: "Commercial interests are very powerful interests. Let me put it this way. Sometimes...uh...Money trumps peace."

[librechik]

14. seems like it's functioning just fine for the 1% who populate it.

we are so screwed.

[Zorra]

15. Democrats could have ended the filibuster rule at any time with a simple Senate majority

vote.

They apparently didn't want to accomplish anything.

Sorry, Senator Sanders, I don't buy the "if we do it, they'll do it"schtick.

Senate Democrats just wasted 8 years of progress, and lost Senate seats, and the House, because they did not get anything accomplished due to not ending the filibuster.

Y'all have really bad parenting skills. Coddling spoiled brats is bad for everyone.

[Action_Patrol]

16. The filibuster

Protects minority rights in the Senate. The people you favor will not always be in control.
It is needed even though I don't always agree with the reason for its use.

[unblock]

32. sounds nice in theory, but republicans have clearly long abused this power.

the "minority rights" they're sticking up for is the right to put a spanner in the works of the federal government for the sake of making obama look ineffective.

they're not opposing nominees because they're controversial, they're opposing nominees because they can.

they're not opposing legislation on the basis of their opposition to it, they're opposing legislation because they want to deny obama any victories.

this is not what protecting minority rights is all about. if used sparingly for truly heartfelt issues, the filibuster has its merit. but used as a routine matter to delay and obstruct and sabotage, no, it's not useful or helpful to anyone.

since doing away with the filibuster for non-supreme court judicial nominees, has anyone really been hurt? vacancies on the federal bench are finally being filled, the courts can handle more cases faster. oh how horrible!

[Action_Patrol]

35. Agreed

I agree with you 100%. Purely as Devils advocate, we are looking at this from 'our' side making the nomination. Would we feel the same if we were the ones having a nominee jammed down our throats. The fillibuster still stands for other legislative processes. The republicans were in the majority not so long ago and they didn't abolish it then.

[unblock]

38. the didn't have to abolish it

first, we didn't abuse the process to nearly the same extent they do.

second, they have money and can pretty easily pick off a democratic senator or few to get nominees they really want through, unless there's too much of a media focus.

we don't have that ability. it's much, much harder to pick off a republican senator.

[Action_Patrol]

39. Scary and unfortunate.

Much like dear C3p0 in Star Wars... It seems to be our lot in life, we are made to suffer.

[uponit7771]

27. They did in part of nominations... the GOP will do the same

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

22. And still people blame Obama for every damn thing. Even Sanders identifies the right enemy.

[sammy750]

25. Bought out by corporation.

The GOP has been bought out by big corporations and lobbyists. They love to see their bank accounts grow for saying NO or blocking important bills.. The voters need to decide if the Congress and Senate will be working again for them and the nation. If so they need to defeat Tea Party and GOP candidates.
They are easy to spot because they run on the agenda given to them. They are not for the people or state they represent.

[Romulox]

34. Ah the Kabuki! The filibuster is in Senator Reid's power to eliminate.

He's already done so (the so-called "nuclear option&quot for most Presidential nominees.

So this is a silly game.

[Enthusiast]

40. Kicked and recommended!

Thank you, Bernie!

[Uncle Joe]

41. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, cal.

[blkmusclmachine]

45. Whatever the 1% wants, the 1% gets. And that includes Government "dysfunction."

[FlatStanley]

47. It is dysfunctional because of arcane anti-democratic rules in both houses of Congress.

[Cha]

49. Thank you, Senator Sanders for speaking on the Reality of the Situation. thanks cal! nm

[aikoaiko]

53. They can't filibuster if we are 60+