An un-American menace that threatens our nation\u2019s security and maybe even our democracy has clearly come full circle.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s democracy that had become the envy, and the model, of a war-torn world that was resurrecting itself.<\/p>\n
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 the postwar 1940s. In our 2020 election, we just saw proof that our federal government\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Meetings were held in which Trump\u2019s attorneys discussed plans to have slates of fake electors in a number of crucial states. They falsely claimed that they were the duly elected Electoral College slate and that their candidate, Trump, had been certified as having won in their states \u2013 when in fact, Joe Biden actually won their states. But they did not succeed in their fraudulent efforts and now face criminal indictments.<\/p>\n
The Electoral College is anachronistic. We ought to elect presidents by either: (1) certifying each state\u2019s popular vote totals and automatically awarding the winner the Electoral College vote total the state is entitled to receive; or (2) electing as president the winner of national popular vote.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a very different sort of scandal from within the federal government has also occurred this year \u2013 and it too has severely endangered America\u2019s national security. A lone Republican, the very conservative freshman Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, has taken advantage of the archaic and bizarre but legal senatorial courtesy that has become the rule \u2013 namely: the practice known as \u201cunanimous consent.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
Tuberville is vehemently opposed to the Defense Department policy enacted since the Supreme Court reversed its policy legalizing abortion; it permits military personnel who want an abortion but are stationed in a state that doesn\u2019t permit abortions to have time off and travel expenses paid to travel to a state where they can undergo an abortion.<\/p>\n
Tuberville has blocked Senate confirmation of more than 300 promotions of military officers \u2013 including the chiefs of the Army and Navy and the commandant of the Marines. Tuberville won\u2019t relent until the Pentagon agrees to reverse its abortion time and compensation policies. Scores of former national security officials of both parties \u2013 and scores of highest level generals and admirals \u2013 have blasted Tuberville as severely endangering America\u2019s national security.<\/p>\n
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and many fellow Republicans strongly criticized Tuberville\u2019s reckless action. Among the most recent, House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, R-Texas, blasted Tuberville\u2019s blocking ploy on CNN Sunday, saying: \u201cThis is paralyzing the Department of Defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our stalled Senate must safeguard us all by healing itself \u2013 with its minority leader finding a way to end this lone-wolf rebellion in Republican ranks. McConnell, 81, has experienced two episodes where he froze briefly during press questioning, then recovered. He assured us he can still serve. Now more than ever, America needs its patriotic Senate Republican leader to lead as never before. The Senate\u2019s woefully archaic rules on unanimous consent and filibuster must be reworked. The Senate must prevent one irresponsible senator from ever again being able to paralyze the chamber.<\/p>\n
Let Minority Leader McConnell and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., lead together to 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 at least assure that the Electoral College is never again an invitation to cheat and defraud.<\/p>\n
The Senate\u2019s unanimous consent practice and the Constitution\u2019s Electoral College provisions were created way back when families could go out for a Sunday ride and accurately know their vehicle\u2019s horsepower just by counting the number of horses pulling their wagon.<\/p>\n
Rise to the moment, Mitch. Lead the way.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n