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fandomhigh2017-09-22 07:04 am
imafuturist) wrote in fandomhigh2017-09-22 07:04 am
Civics, Friday, September 22, 2017
Well, the classroom was very... festive. Through no work on the teachers' parts. On the plus side, the glitter was all cleaned up.
"Welcome back, welcome back. Today we're going to be discussing the filibuster in the US Congress," Tony said, making a face as he took a sip of his pumpkin spice coffee.
"It's a stalling tactic demonstrated extremely well in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, a movie that...I'm possibly the only one here who's seen it," Steve added. "It's really good, though. You should watch it." He also took a sip of his pumpkin spice coffee. Sigh. So much pumpkin spice. The pumpkin spice shampoo had been especially unwelcome. "At its most basic form, filibustering is just standing up in the Senate and talking for as long as you can in an attempt to delay or entirely prevent a vote."
"Because current Senate rules permit a senator to speak on a subject as long as they wish," Tony said. "Barring a three-fifths vote in favor of closing the debate. This rule wasn't always in place. In fact, the original method of closing debate was a scant majority vote. That changed in 1809 when it was decided that it wasn't necessary as it was hardly ever needed."
"That was a mistake every opposing party regrets when they aren't in the minority any more, because the filibuster can really mess up the majority's day," Steve said. "Because 'on a subject' is very, very broad and can mean reading from a phone book, or a cookbook, or going three hours on the majesty of pumpkin spice lattes and decorative gourds--as long as you're still standing up, you're under no obligation whatsoever to yield the floor."
Oh, the fun little quirks of US political history.
"But now, as politics have become increasingly polarized, the filibuster has been limited by the parties in power. It can now no longer be used to block judicial or executive appointments," Tony added. "First excluding the nominations to the Supreme Court, now including it. Which I'm sure is another thing that people won't regret once the balance shifts again."
"It's what they over-dramatically call 'the nuclear option' if you've watched the news recently," Steve said. "It means that instead of the normal 60 votes to tell people to hush--or 'invoking cloture', in Senate speak--they only need 50, which the majority always has. That's why they're the majority."
"Cloture," Tony chimed in. "Was actually a rule added leading up to the first world war after a bill to allow merchant ships to be armed in the face of German naval aggression failed due to a filibuster. Which means it was meant for emergency situations, needing a two-thirds majority of those in attendance and then later a two-thirds majority of the full membership, making it even more difficult to accomplish."
And they sure were talking a lot about this, weren't they?
Almost like they were talking as long as they could to make some sort of point..."And the record for the longest filibuster conducted by a single person was Senator Strom Thurmond, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes...against civil rights." Steve made a face. "Sometimes it's just so depressing to discover things I slept through."
"On the plus side, even with that record setting filibuster, they still passed," Tony said quickly. "And somehow Ted Cruz has managed to get in the record books with a filibuster, so it seems much less impressive when you remember that."
Steve made another face. "So your assignment today is two-fold: think of an issue that would make you stand up and talk for as long as you can...and then get up and do some speaking. See how long you can last. See how hard it can be to just stand and talk."
"Welcome back, welcome back. Today we're going to be discussing the filibuster in the US Congress," Tony said, making a face as he took a sip of his pumpkin spice coffee.
"It's a stalling tactic demonstrated extremely well in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, a movie that...I'm possibly the only one here who's seen it," Steve added. "It's really good, though. You should watch it." He also took a sip of his pumpkin spice coffee. Sigh. So much pumpkin spice. The pumpkin spice shampoo had been especially unwelcome. "At its most basic form, filibustering is just standing up in the Senate and talking for as long as you can in an attempt to delay or entirely prevent a vote."
"Because current Senate rules permit a senator to speak on a subject as long as they wish," Tony said. "Barring a three-fifths vote in favor of closing the debate. This rule wasn't always in place. In fact, the original method of closing debate was a scant majority vote. That changed in 1809 when it was decided that it wasn't necessary as it was hardly ever needed."
"That was a mistake every opposing party regrets when they aren't in the minority any more, because the filibuster can really mess up the majority's day," Steve said. "Because 'on a subject' is very, very broad and can mean reading from a phone book, or a cookbook, or going three hours on the majesty of pumpkin spice lattes and decorative gourds--as long as you're still standing up, you're under no obligation whatsoever to yield the floor."
Oh, the fun little quirks of US political history.
"But now, as politics have become increasingly polarized, the filibuster has been limited by the parties in power. It can now no longer be used to block judicial or executive appointments," Tony added. "First excluding the nominations to the Supreme Court, now including it. Which I'm sure is another thing that people won't regret once the balance shifts again."
"It's what they over-dramatically call 'the nuclear option' if you've watched the news recently," Steve said. "It means that instead of the normal 60 votes to tell people to hush--or 'invoking cloture', in Senate speak--they only need 50, which the majority always has. That's why they're the majority."
"Cloture," Tony chimed in. "Was actually a rule added leading up to the first world war after a bill to allow merchant ships to be armed in the face of German naval aggression failed due to a filibuster. Which means it was meant for emergency situations, needing a two-thirds majority of those in attendance and then later a two-thirds majority of the full membership, making it even more difficult to accomplish."
And they sure were talking a lot about this, weren't they?
Almost like they were talking as long as they could to make some sort of point..."And the record for the longest filibuster conducted by a single person was Senator Strom Thurmond, who filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes...against civil rights." Steve made a face. "Sometimes it's just so depressing to discover things I slept through."
"On the plus side, even with that record setting filibuster, they still passed," Tony said quickly. "And somehow Ted Cruz has managed to get in the record books with a filibuster, so it seems much less impressive when you remember that."
Steve made another face. "So your assignment today is two-fold: think of an issue that would make you stand up and talk for as long as you can...and then get up and do some speaking. See how long you can last. See how hard it can be to just stand and talk."