On January 10th, 49 B.C., Gaius Julius Caesar was on the north bank of the Rubicon River in northeastern Italy. Caesar was at the peak of his strength, on that north bank, looking south, with his army, fresh from the conquest of Gaul, backing him up.
Caesar knew that, under Roman law, crossing that river under arms was a crime. Caesar knew that he faced a likely civil war if he did so. Crossing that river with his army would make him a traitor and a rebel. But Caesar's mind was made up. The Roman historian Suetonius reports that Caesar called out the words “‘Eatur,’ inquit, ‘quo deorum ostenta et inimicorum inquitas vocat. Iacta alea est.’ ” That translates in English, more or less, as "Take we the course which the signs of the gods and the false dealing of our foes point out. The die is cast.”
Of such turning points is history made. Now, today, in the United States, we're not on the cusp of a civil war - at least, not yet. But in Washington, Senate Republicans are on the bank of their own Rubicon, and it's time they got their web-footed waterfowl arranged in a linear manner and crossed that river.
I write, of course, of the Senate filibuster rule. It's time it was done away with. A year ago, two years ago, ten years ago, I would have said something very different. For almost half a century, as long as I've been watching politics, I've been a proponent of keeping the filibuster in place. I have written so, right here at RedState, many times. That was then.
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John Thune Commits to 'Preserving the Legislative Filibuster'
This is now. Here's why, and I'm going to tell you.
First: Senate Democrats have sworn to eliminate the filibuster the moment they regain control of the Senate. They have been promising this for some time now, and we had better believe they mean it. The last time the Democrats had a narrow majority, the only thing that stopped them from eliminating the filibuster was two of that party's few remaining moderates: Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ). Those two are no longer in the Senate. The only remaining moderate Democrat in the upper house is Senator John Fetterman (D-PA), and he, alone, likely won't be enough to stop them, should he decide to buck his party on this matter.
Second: Democrats are, after all, very, very good at two things: They stick together - look at how they vote, almost always en bloc - and when they get power, they use it, often with abandon. Obamacare, which has made a shambles of the nation's health-care system, is a classic example, passed in the dark of night, without adequate review, on a party-line vote - but they passed it. We have to believe them when they tell us what they intend to do, because every example tells us that they mean it. The moment they regain control of the Senate, which, fates forfend, may be as soon as January 2027, they will eliminate the filibuster and ram every progressive program item they can down our throats.
Sooner or later, the Democrats will be back in the majority. Previously, as recently as a few months ago, I would have relied on that as the best argument for keeping the filibuster in place. But that presumption relied on there being enough moderate Democrats to foil the radicals; now the radicals are the Democratic Party. The moderates are gone, and the few old-line Democrats (I'm looking at you, Senator Schumer) have been co-opted.
Grab this opportunity. Realize the crossroads we are at. It is as William Butler Yeats wrote, only a year after the Great War ended:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
It's time. To the Senate Majority Leader, John Thune (R-SD), and the Majority Whip, Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), I can say only this: It's time. Forget about the glorious traditions of collegiality and all that horse squeeze. The time for that is past. The other side has taken the gloves off, and they are playing for keeps. We had damn well better do the same, or our election system will be permanently broken, illegal aliens will be once more welcomed in, and our armed forces will once more be a jobs program for the neurotic. We can't guarantee control of anything after that. If we can at least shore up our elections, we have a fighting chance of retaining the majority.
The time is now. Right now. Change the rule. Get the SAVE America Act passed. Get DHS funded. Enact the entire Trump agenda, the GOP agenda, and if Democrats now suddenly discover the wonders of the filibuster and howl about its defenestration, remind them that they can take their sudden objections and place them somewhere where the sun indeed never shines. It's time, Senators, to do unto them before they get the chance to do unto us.
