As I am sipping my coffee this morning, I am thinking about numbers – the number four comes to mind. This is the size of the majority in the Senate that has allowed Mitch McConnell and the his fellow Republican Senators to literally reshape America and threaten the very principles of our democracy where political expediency trumps (yes, a fitting choice of words) the welfare of the country.
When I was an undergraduate at UCLA, I use to laugh at the sports commentaries that lamented over the problem of blocking protection for our quarterback. The grumbling centered on our inability to find five athletes who could block from a student body of 30,000 in a state with a population of almost 19 million (1966). If I fast forward, I can ask a similar question about the U.S. Senate. Why is that the progressives of this country are held totally captive to the corrupt, undemocratic, and heavy-handed tactics of Mitch McConnel for a mere four senators – three if the VP were a Democrat? The Democrats enjoy a reasonable majority in the House, give or take 34 representatives. Unfortunately, the demographics of the election cycle for electing Senators didn’t favor a turnover of the Senate in 2018 as it did for the House. The reality that the Senate can pass or thwart virtually anything Cheeto wants is amazing given such a close split in the Senate. Accommodation, cooperation, and collaboration are an anathema to Mitch McConnell and his fellow lemmings.
So where are we because of a four Senator majority? Mitch McConnel is sitting on 395 bills passed by the House that he has no intent of bringing to the Senate for consideration. This is how he earned the nickname “the Grim Reaper,” almost as fitting as “Moscow Mitch” or “the Turtle.” Many of these bills are not merely on the Democratic wish list but passed the house with bi-partisan support. It doesn’t seem to matter much to the Grim Reaper, though. This is why, in an ironic play of words, the U.S. senate has been called “the world’s least deliberative body.” BTW, we are not talking about trivial legislation on-hold. Major bills to address election interference, funding for pandemic relief, support for the CDC and other agencies needed to fight future potential pandemics, medical prescription relief, etc. How one person can thwart the legislative process is beyond my naive understanding of the legislative processes. Why have the charade of a legislative vote if you cannot even get the bills released for consideration?
Mitch’s obstruction philosophy is bad enough, but there are enough ethics questions to make me lose sleep beyond what Cheeto has already done. Mitch’s spouse is Transportation Secretary, Elaine Chao. How is that not a conflict of interest? We have a senate lead by the husband deliberating legislation and funding for a cabinet department lead by his spouse. I am willing to put down a substantial bet that in Mitch’s pile of 395 bills, there are none that would benefit the Transportation department or the State of Kentucky, for that matter. The fact that Ms. Chao’s own ethics are worrisome should bother those who advocate a modicum of Senate oversight. Ms. Chao, a substantial stockholder in Vulcan Materials, recently sold her stock after telling legislators that she would divest her holdings three years ago. Of course, Vulcan provides building and construction materials on government contracts managed by the Department of Transportation. My cynical side wonders how much the Wall Street Journal revelation of her failure to divest resulted in her recent divestiture in May. I don’t know whether Chao did anything untoward, but I do know the appearance of impropriety and the opportunity are enough to raise ethics questions. Interestingly, the Inspector General investigating Chao was removed by Trump (McConnell) in his recent purge of five Inspector Generals who were responsible for investigating the ethics of various government agencies. Is there no end to this corruptions and arbitrary abuse of power?
As a number of political pundits have suggested, Mitch McConnell will go down in history as one of the least productive and most obstructive majority leaders in history. The fact that his Senate lemmings don’t have the anatomical appendages to do what’s right for the country is beyond frustrating. It is very sad that the Senate has abdicated so much of the separation of powers envisioned by our constitution. The arbitrary failure to consider the valid Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, may be the most arbitrary and blatant abuse of a political position in the history of the Senate. It cries out for a major reform of the rules to prevent it from ever happening again, no matter which party has the majority in the Senate. Under McConnell’s ‘leadership’ they have continually ‘rubber stamped’ all of Cheeto’s political appointees and judges with no regard for their qualifications, only their political loyalty and affiliation. This is why we have so many corrupt and incompetent cabinet and senior clowns like Betsy DeVos, Rick Perry, Michael Flynn, Ben Carson, etc. ‘Advise and Consent’ is a travesty.
On that note, I am moving on to toast a fresh bagel with my second cup of coffee.