fandomhigh | Civics, Friday, September 22, 2017

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."

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"How?" asked poor, stupid Steve.

"Don't worry, they'll let you know."

This was the height of his humor, Steve. This, dad jokes, and puns.

Steve, sadly, thought it was hilarious, bursting out laughing.

Which would be why Tony beamed proudly at him. Because take that, Jan. He was hilarious.

To the elderly.

"That was really funny."

Don't encourage this, Steve.

Encourage this, Steve.

"We need a sense of humor to survive our lives."

"If you can't laugh at the ridiculousness, what's the point?" Steve agreed. "I was awake for ten days and met two Norse gods and fought aliens. And that was practically normal, compared to later on."

"And then you got to me charming ol' me," Tony added dryly. "Our Steve woke up to Doughboy attacking. He's this... blob. Of things I don't want to analyze."

"I'll be fine never meeting him," Steve agreed immediately.

"Blobbed all over Ellis Island," Tony continued with a grin.

"Like so many with a dream of coming to this country," Steve said dryly.

Tony sniffed like he was trying not to cry over it. "Makes a man proud."

"With nothing but the shirt on his back, assuming his has both a back and a shirt, and a dream in his heart," Steve said. "And, these days, the requisite paperwork proving he's a Nobel laureate or something."

"No shirt. And if he wins a Nobel prize before me, I may cry," Tony replied.

"You haven't won one yet?" Steve asked, honestly kind of surprised.

"No, but I threatened to steal Reed's once," he replied lightly. "It's not like anyone wants to give me more of an ego."

Steve gave him a fond smile. "A good seventy percent of the ego you've more than earned," he said. "The rest is for show."

Maybe he wasn't supposed to have realized that?

Maybe just a little!

Which is why Tony looked like he did not know how to handle people seeing through his walls. "They skip over a lot of people who deserve them. Especially in my fields."

Yeah, you make this about misogyny in STEM fields.

Steve had no idea how to parse that particular face, so he just say what he thought. "You've created entire new sources of energy, Tony. If that doesn't qualify, what does?" he asked earnestly.

Tony laughed quietly at that, shaking his head. "I also have the whole... Merchant of Death thing to make them pause on that."

"It's not the Peace Prize," Steve said stubbornly. "You should still get considered."

"I'll let them know next year," Tony promised, then continued on with a dramatic little shrug. "Politics of the science world. Worst gossips I've ever heard."

Steve gave him a fond smile, then let Tony change the conversation like he clearly desperately wanted to. "Is the gossip even interesting?"

"Oh, it's all about who refused to peer review a paper and who got hired by what shady government agency this time. You know. The fun stuff."

Also, twitter beefs. HE SUPPORTED YOU, NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON.

"If the agencies are shady, should you even know they got hired?" Steve asked.

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