This is NOT the Way a Democracy is Supposed to Work

From a New York Times editorial earlier this month.  (The underlines are mine.):

The only reason that income taxes on 99 percent of Americans did not go up this month was that Speaker John Boehner briefly broke with an iron rule of Republican control over the House.  He allowed the fiscal-cliff deal to be put to a full vote of the house even though a strong majority of Republicans opposed it.

That informal rule, which bars a vote on legislation unless it has the support of a majority of Republicans, has been one of the biggest stumbling blocks to progress and consensus in Congress, and, in its own way, is even more pernicious than the filibuster abuse that often ties up the Senate. Under the 60-vote requirement to break a filibuster...coalitions can occasionally be formed between the Democratic majority and enough Republicans to reach the three-fifths threshold.

But under the majority-of-the majority rule in the House, Democrats are completely cut out of the governing process, not even given a chance to vote unless Republicans have decided to pass something.  Since 2010, there have been enough extremist Republicans in the caucus to block consideration of most of the bills requested by the White House or sent over from the Senate.  If President Obama is for something, it's a safe bet that most House Republicans are against it, and thus (Boehner) won't bring it up.

That's why the House never took a vote on the Senate's latest five-year farm bill.  Or the Violence Against Women Act.  Or a full six-year transportation bill.  Republican opposition prevented consideration in the last term of the Senate's $60 billion in providing relief from Hurricane Sandy...

...The majority-of-the-majority (rule) is relatively new and entirely a Republican creation...

...This anti-democratic tactic, now known as the "Hastert rule", helped turn the chamber into a one-party institution that utterly silenced the minority...

...when Nancy Pelosi (was Speaker), she repudiated the Hastert rule, allowing both parties to vote together on legislation.  For example, she allowed a bill to pass paying for the Iraq war over the objections of most Democrats.

"I'm the Speaker of the House," she said at the time. "I have to take into consideration something broader than the majority of the majority in the Democratic caucus."

That's an attitude rarely expressed by Mr. Boehner.  But if the country is to move forward on issues with widespread support...he will have to let the two parties vote together on a solution.


what eye thynk:   This is not the way a democracy is supposed to work.   What happened to the concept--a concept taught in every school in America--that everyone votes and whoever or whatever gets the most votes wins?  Where does our Constitution state that one party decides for everyone?

When I voted for Democratic Representatives, I expected those members to be able to vote with my voice.  By unilaterally evoking the Hastert rule, Mr. Boehner has completely eliminated my say in government.  What the Republican party attempted to do in the November presidential election, (preventing Democrats from voting by passing unneeded voter regulation laws), has been completely accomplished in the House of Representatives. 

And this travesty of government does not just close Democrats out of the process.  Republican citizens have equal cause to be appalled.  

Consider the current attention to gun regulations.  A CNN poll conducted this week found that 74 percent of Americans--both Democrat AND REPUBLICAN--favor a ban on assault weapons.  But under Speaker Boehner's leadership, it is possible that a bill controlling the proliferation of assault weapons will never be put to a vote--not because a majority of ALL of the members of the House may approve of it, but because a majority of HIS party may not.  Mr. Boehner's only focus is power--for himself and for his party.  The American citizens that members of the House are supposed to represent--no matter their party affiliation--are not even part of Mr. Boehner's equation.  

Mr. Boehner's ironfisted use of the Hastert rule has turned our House of Representatives into a one-party dictatorship where the minority members are given a pat on the head and kindly permitted to occupy their assigned offices and sit in the House at their assigned desks, but are only allowed to watch as Mr. Boehner and his fellow Republicans decide how our country will be run.  

How did we allow this to happen?!