The root cause of the division of the country? From the "Raab" controversy between the two parties in the United States

In recent weeks, filibuster, or filibuster, has been the biggest buzzword in American politics.

The story is simple: Democrats want to overhaul current election laws in the U.S. Senate and ease voting restrictions.

Republicans threatened to obstruct the proceedings with Raab.

On January 11, after repeated hesitation, Biden expressed his support for the Democratic Party to forcibly replace the current Raab system.

Considering that the Democrats only have a one-vote advantage in the Senate, this operation has already caused an uproar, and what is even more ironic is that just two days later, when Biden went to Capitol Hill to do "united front work" with Democratic lawmakers, he did not. It was "revolted" by two Democratic senators from red states, and ultimately fell short.

Although this is another farce of American partisanship, it is also worthy of people's consideration.

Filibuster: Struggling to put things off

Under the current political system in the United States, although the bill only needs a simple majority (51 votes) to pass the Senate, the minority party can arrange for the congressman "Raab" to "drag things out" by taking turns giving lengthy speeches, thereby obstructing discussion.

At this point, the Senate Majority Leader can initiate a “cloth-cut” motion to restore the bill’s agenda after obtaining the approval of three-fifths of the members (60 votes)—but this will inevitably require cross-party cooperation. Once a certain party has 60+ seats, it needs to be traced back to the 1970s.

At first glance, Raab can be described as a sharp blade for the minority, a manifestation of the "spirit of restraint".

However, when supervision and restriction become alienated into the same party and "opposition for the sake of opposition," everything changes.

Since Biden took office, he has paid little attention to the guarantee of voting rights and has been criticized by social activists.

(AP)

As the deep-seated problems in American society continue to deteriorate, the society becomes more divided, and the Senate has more and more frequent Raabs. Its deliberation ability has been greatly reduced. Now it can barely appoint and remove personnel, and its ability to reconsider bills has been completely lost.

As for Biden personally, he also endorsed the Raab system more than a decade ago, calling it the cornerstone of "compromise and moderation."

But now, Biden sees it as a threat to American democracy.

However, the destructive Raab system can actually be replaced by a simple majority (51 votes).

Of course, this way of pushing the bill will undoubtedly have retaliatory consequences - and just last week, whether to save American democracy or to save his own political prospects, Biden chose this "nuclear weapons option" ".

'Anti-water traitors' in the Democratic Party

On January 11, he did not hesitate to change his position for many years, expressing his support for the Senate to change the rules on Raab, thus allowing the passage of two related bills, the Free Elections Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Promotion Act.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer immediately cooperated and threatened "if we don't compromise, we'll replace Raab", announcing a vote in the Senate on January 17.

In this regard, Republicans are both angry and disdainful.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell staunchly countered that if Democrats dared to replace Raab, the Senate would usher in a "nuclear winter", and once Republicans regain control of the Senate majority, "we will not only overthrow Every reform that liberals hurts the country will strengthen America with conservative policies that don’t require the participation of the Democratic Party at all.”

Then came the ironic scene mentioned in the opening paragraph: on January 13, Biden went to Capitol Hill to meet with Democrats in person, hoping to unite all members of the party, especially all 50 senators in the party, in one fell swoop in voting rights The problem breaks through the limitations of Rab.

Before Biden's meeting with Democrats, however, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., preempted her speech, saying that while she supports the Voting Rights Act, she does not support changing the Raab system because it would only exacerbated the division between the two parties.

On January 13, Sinema spoke at the Senate General Assembly announcing that she would not support "short-sighted" changes to the Raab system.

(AP)

Later, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia, who had previously failed Biden's "Build Back Better Act" (Build Back Better Act), also stated, "I will not vote to repeal. Or weaken the Raab system."

At this point, Biden's efforts have been in vain.

And whether it is for the Biden administration or the United States, this matter will have long-term implications.

Biden failed again

For Biden, the US president usually enjoys a "honeymoon period of public opinion" in his first year in office. If he cannot help the ruling party achieve good results in the mid-term elections at the end of the second year, his entire term will be hampered.

However, Biden suffered frequent setbacks in his first year in office. Major allies in Europe and Asia were hesitant about "value diplomacy", the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan was criticized, and the epidemic prevention failed. State Senator Manchin's "no support" sentence failed.

In early January 2022, Biden's "Building Back a Better Future Act" was stillborn against the opposition of Democratic Senator Manchin.

The West Virginia state represented by Manchin has a population of only 1.8 million, but his decision alone can shape the political and economic future of the United States.

(AP)

Therefore, before the midterm elections in November this year, Biden must find a "focus", and his choice is the voting rights reform that Democratic supporters are very concerned about.

This can not only show its own efficiency, boost the support of the existing vote base, but also make it easier for people of color, new immigrants, and the poor to participate in voting, and consolidate the chances of winning the mid-term elections. The problem is that the Republican Party will not support Biden. This also led to a series of questions surrounding "Rabu" this time.

Now, after the postponement of the original plan on January 17, although Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said that a vote will still be held on the 19th, this is only for the record of Democratic senators. In order to communicate with supporters, in order to give the party a "war order" to ensure that there will be no "traitors against the water" in the future - as for Raab and voting law reform, you can forget about it.

With this in mind, Trump’s return to the political arena on January 15, and the looming mid-term elections in November, whether Biden can find a “focus” before that is really hard to expect.

The root cause of America's division?

So what about the US?

Further reading:

Former U.S. President Donald Trump holds a rally in Florence, Arizona, on January 15.

(AP)

Senator Sinema of Arizona said on the day of the "reverse water" that the method of passing the controversial bill in place of Raab was "short-sighted" and that it would not solve the division between the Senate and the country, "to protect our Democracy must address the disease itself, the disease of division".

To a certain extent, Sinema's doubts are established.

To paraphrase Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, "no one in this room can imagine what a fully scorched-earth Senate would look like."

If Democrats take a hard-line approach to replacing the Raab rule, it will inevitably lead to retaliation from the Republicans, and the already divided Congress will be further divided.

But even if it doesn't, won't Congress continue to be divided?

The disease of American democracy is indeed "split," but what is the source of the split?

Stupid, the problem is really the economy.

In recent decades, politicians, the media, and even most people in the United States have repeatedly understood or packaged the challenges of economic development and distribution as issues such as "race, ethnicity, political rights, and liberty rights."

However, this kind of recognition not only makes issues such as race, ethnicity, democracy, and rights become more and more noisy under the focus of all parties, but also causes economic problems to be delayed and worsened again and again.

In the end, the real economy continued to move outward under the drive of capital seeking profit and the influence of "small government", and the bubbles in the stock market and the growth of GDP figures became more and more hollow; on the other hand, the "trickle-down effect" and Market distribution” is almost religious fanatical stubbornness, and it makes the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Even with strong creativity and the world’s top talents, the public thinks that the quality of life is not as good as the previous generation, and even today it has risen to a class extent of the problem.

There are a large number of Trump supporters in underdeveloped regions of the United States.

(Getty)

At this time, the Democratic Party's plan to replace the Raab rule is at least the beginning of an attempt to solve it, right?

We have to "control violence with violence", just like Deng Xiaoping 30 years ago. He listened to the opinions of various factions and also "finalized the decision", with less arguments and more development, and solved the "superstructure" by improving the "economic foundation".

When there are more jobs and more schools in the community, problems such as gangs, guns, drugs, and police brutality can naturally be improved; when there are more roads and more bridges in cities and counties, the development differences between red and blue states will vary with the goods. It can be bridged by personnel exchanges... Many problems of "values, metaphysics, and ideology" in the United States are actually rooted in the injustice and injustice in the process of development, and the problems of development really need to be solved in the process of development.

The sages put "studying things, knowing and sincerity" before "self-cultivation, aligning the family, governing the country and the world", precisely because people first need to clarify the nature of things, figure out what problems they are facing, and then correct their mentality, Only with the correct mentality and values ​​can we solve problems in a proper way. But now, when American society has put the cart before the horse and repeatedly blames economic problems on "values" and "rights", how can it not be partisan?

Why not split up again and again?

Therefore, the "Raab" incident not only heralds the future decline of the Biden administration and the Democratic Party, but also reflects that the problem of division in American society will continue to intensify.

Biden's administration has entered a standstill, and the US president's power is limited to ensure his vote to abstain from the Senate. Rab Biden's last bet for the mid-term elections?

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