John — I wanted to share some thoughts as the Senate is set to debate voting rights and the filibuster this week.
A few days ago, President Biden came to a Senate Caucus meeting to urge Senators to pass voting rights and not let the filibuster get in the way. After spending decades in the Senate himself, he understood the need for a change in the Senate rules if the nation was going to move forward, not backward.
But just prior to his speaking, and knowing the purpose of this personal visit by the President of the United States, one of the Democratic Senators took to the Senate floor to pledge her loyalty to the filibuster even if it meant the death of voting rights. That’s right, a member of the President’s own party would not even allow him to make the case without preemptively telling him and the country she thought it a waste of time.
It is maddening, and I won’t sugarcoat what it means for the likelihood of success legislatively, in pushing back against the pernicious Republican efforts to disenfranchise people and compromise the integrity of our elections.
Instead, I come back to something the Speaker often tells us, “we don’t agonize, we organize.”
All around the country, we must ensure that whatever obstacle is put in our way, we will help Americans vote, and make sure every vote is counted. We will protect independent elections officials from harassment — including death threats — so that they remain in their important posts. We will use the courts to challenge any effort to turn away citizens with the right to vote, or to use these anti-democratic new processes to overturn the popular will at the polls.
In short, we will save our democracy.
As Americans, we have an important democratic legacy to protect. And we will do everything in our power to do so. We will do our duty to our country, and to our children and grandchildren.
Thank you for doing your part. I can’t tell you how much it means to me.
— Adam
