An Eye for an Aye: Kirsten Sinema Must Go

New York Magazine gave a detailed account of the moment. The Senate was about to vote on changing the mechanism of the filibuster to enable the passage of voting rights legislation. Kirsten Sinema came in late, spit out her cough drop, and then popped up to shout “aye” to dooming American democracy. She took a moment of congratulations from Mitt Romney. Activists despaired. Liberals seethed. Republicans took a victory lap.

The past few months in Congress have been ruled by endless negotiations with Joe Manchin and Kirsten Sinema. Democrats with a sense that they have to do something have tried in vain to convince the two senators that passing legislation is their job, and perhaps they should get to it. It has all been for naught. Whether it is infrastructure or voting rights or COVID relief or the minimum wage, nothing is getting done in Congress because the minority veto of all activity, embodied by the filibuster, has destroyed majority rule.

It’s important to realize that despite having nominal “control” of the House and Senate, the Democratic party doesn’t actually have any power in Congress. Paralysis is the defining feature of the US Congress, for the Senate is ruled by an obstructionist party that is about to consolidate power by abandoning…