The following is presented as part of The Columbian’s Opinion content, which offers a point of view in order to provoke thought and debate of civic issues. Opinions represent the viewpoint of the author. Unsigned editorials represent the consensus opinion of The Columbian’s editorial board, which operates independently of the news department.
An un-American menace that threatens our nation’s security and maybe even our democracy has clearly come full circle.
Today we will be urging quick action by a rescuer you may consider unlikely. But he may be our best hope for securing the future of our next generation.
After our greatest generation secured victory in World War II, the Republican chairman of a relatively new committee that no longer exists, House Committee on Un-American Activities, began warning President Harry Truman that his government was being infiltrated by Russian communist spies.
House Un-American Activities Committee Chairman J. Parnell Thomas of New Jersey was assisted in his crusade by an ambitious young Republican congressman from California named Richard Nixon. They warned that these un-American activities were aimed at sabotaging from within the government and culture America’s democracy that had become the envy, and the model, of a war-torn world that was resurrecting itself.
Fast-forward: Here in the third decade of the 21st century, we have discovered the sort of sabotage from within that the old House Un-American Activities chairman warned us about. In our 2020 election, we saw proof that our federal government’s democracy was indeed victimized from within by un-American activities that had a goal of sabotage and even the overthrow of the 2020 contest in which President Donald Trump was legitimately defeated in his bid for reelection.
Meetings were held in which Trump’s attorneys discussed plans to have fake electors in a number of crucial states. They falsely claimed that they were the duly elected Electoral College and that their candidate, Trump, had been certified as having won in their states — when in fact, Joe Biden actually won their states.
The Electoral College is anachronistic. We ought to elect presidents by either: (1) certifying each state’s popular vote totals and automatically awarding the Electoral College vote total the state is entitled to receive; or (2) electing as president the winner of national popular vote.
Meanwhile, a very different sort of scandal from within the federal government has also occurred this year — and it too has severely endangered America’s national security. A lone Republican, the very conservative freshman Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, has taken advantage of an archaic but legal senatorial courtesy: the practice known as “unanimous consent.” It allows any single senator to put a hold on a bill because of any whim the senator chooses. In this case, it is a military policy about abortion.
Tuberville has blocked Senate confirmation of more than 300 promotions of military officers — including the chiefs of the Army and Navy and the commandant of the Marines. Tuberville won’t relent until the Pentagon agrees to reverse its abortion policies.
Scores of former national security officials of both parties — and scores of highest level generals and admirals — have blasted Tuberville as severely endangering America’s national security.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and many fellow Republicans strongly criticized Tuberville’s reckless action.
Our stalled Senate must safeguard us all by healing itself — with its minority leader finding a way to end this lone-wolf rebellion in Republican ranks. The Senate must prevent one irresponsible senator from ever again being able to paralyze the chamber.
Let Minority Leader McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., come up with a new concept in Senate rules that will retire this provision that is not just outmoded but perilous. And let them explore the far more complex prospect of amending the Constitution to assure the Electoral College is never again an invitation to cheat and defraud.
The Senate’s unanimous consent practice and the Constitution’s Electoral College provisions were created way back when families could go out for a Sunday ride and accurately know their vehicle’s horsepower just by counting the number of horses pulling their wagon.
Rise to the moment, Mitch. Lead the way.
Morning Briefing Newsletter
Get a rundown of the latest local and regional news every Mon-Fri morning.
