Volts podcast: Adam Jentleson on how to make the US Senate work
Volts podcast: Adam Jentleson on how to make the US Senate work
A former Senate aide talks filibuster, Manchin, and breaking the current gridlock.
Appears in this episode
Long-time readers know that I am a veteran hater of the US Senate, the graveyard of good ideas and progressive policies. America’s upper chamber is one of the world’s least productive and most ridiculous legislative bodies, its dysfunctions matched only by its boundless self-regard. Don’t get me started.
Instead, get Adam Jentleson started! Now there’s a guy who has earned his ire at the Senate. As a senior aide to Democratic leader Harry Reid from 2011 to 2016, Jentleson saw up close and personal how the institution’s antiquated rules (especially the filibuster) can be weaponized against reformers.
He shared what he learned in a book that came out earlier this year: Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy.
I didn’t want to have Jentleson rehash the book — it has been favorably reviewed and he has been on every podcast under the sun to discuss it — but I was quite interested in his thoughts on the current Senate standoff.
Are Democrats going to let the filibuster prevent them from keeping their promises, improving people’s lives, and getting reelected … again? Are they going to allow a small handful of conservative Democratic senators to squelch a once-in-a-decade chance at legislating … again? Can that still be prevented, and if so, how?
Basically, I asked him to explain Joe Manchin to me. Enjoy.
Volts podcast: Adam Jentleson on how to make the US Senate work
After coming of age during Bush II, seeing the lack of real change achived under Obama, its become clearer and clearer to me than the Democrats are part of the Republican party. The filibuster is the last thing holding up the facade of an independent two party system. The Democratic - Republican party has a firm a grip on the American political system as the CCP has on China.
Around 24:00, I'm having hard time believing that Manchin is simultaneously smart enough to keep getting elected but not smart enough to understand what everyone else understands, which is that bipartisanship has become a hoax.