: “It’s short, unimportant and uninteresting.” That will show him! (
I don’t think this is a major issue against the Republicans, in the sense that I don’t think they should be criticized for managing to be united in opposing something that they, well, oppose. That’s good politics, and if they really do oppose the bill (and I’m not certain about some of them) it’s honest politics as well.
But the voters need to know what their representatives are actually doing, thus I was not surprised, but nonetheless dismayed to learn that according a Pew Research poll, only 32% of those polled know that the senate version of the health care bill was passed without a single Republican vote, while only 26% know that it takes 60 votes to stop a filibuster.
Why do people need to know that sort of thing? How do you know who is doing what if you don’t understand the basic of the process? Knowledgeable voters are critical to the success of democracy, and we have a serious problem.
I note that the news story in which I picked this up, Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire, there was no mention of the fact that Republicans did better on the quiz than Democrats. Being an independent, I’m not as concerned here, but it’s an interesting result.
If those Republican senators are really honest politicians who believe in the democratic process, is there not even one of them who will not seek to undermine the (expected) majority decision on this matter by supporting a filibuster?
I am not sure if I agree with your post here. See you do make the best point, I don’t think you have actually given a large amount of thought to the opposite side of the argument. Perhaps I could do a guest post or a follow-up, just tell me.