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Comment by Wiseacre | Hacker News Reader

Legalized gay marriage was also called a fantasy by critics when it was proposed.

It had a natural constituency, one with money, who fought for decades to make it a reality. Thats how you effect change, you fight like mad for 40 years to make changes, the less money you have, the longer it takes.

also, those sort of divisive culture war issues are much beloved by the media and their corporate advertisers because it distracts voters from the real hardcore economic issues that have the potential to hurt fat wallets

I'm not sure gay marriage was one of those issues, Abortion is, there are others that are, where there is alot of smoke, but no fire. As in, lots of noise, but no constituency.

Same sex and abortion legalization have happened through Supreme Court directives and not through the legislature.

It’s a reflection of the dysfunction that is currently playing out. Democrats hold a trifecta in the Federal Government and can’t even pass a law to make abortion legal throughout the country. They absolutely have the power to do so. They could have threatened SCOTUS with passing this law if SCOTUS decided to let the State Abortion bans stand. But they didn’t.

They don’t have a 60 vote majority in the Senate, and legalizing abortion isn’t likely something they can pass through reconciliation.

They also can’t end the filibuster without Joe Manchin.

The Senate is split 50/50 so the have the slimmest possible majority, and abortion is a hill nearly all Republicans are willing to die on.

I’m not sure this has anything to do with the current distinction unless by the current distinction you mean the nearly equal split.

They can absolutely abolish the filibuster or make exceptions for it. Stop parroting the party line excuses and learned helplessness. The fillibuster is a Senate rule not a constitutional one.

> They can absolutely abolish the filibuster or make exceptions for it.

Vs. what he said:

> > They also can’t end the filibuster without Joe Manchin.

They don't have a majority without Joe Manchin, and therefore cannot change Senate rules without his participation.

The party could end Manchin’s ability to get re-elected if it was all that important to them. He is useful where he is and if he wasn’t there would be someone else who was useful. He has some influence, but he’s not the only centrist in the party. More theater.

Yeah piss off Joe Manchin so he goes independent and caucuses with the Republicans. That will definitely allow the Democrats to pass a pro abortion bill.

With a 50/50 Senate, Democrats need Manchin more than he needs them.

He’s also the only Democrat who can possibly win in WV where trump won by 40 points.

> but he’s not the only centrist in the party

Legalized abortion isn’t an issue that centrists oppose.

But that was a Supreme Court decision, not a bill in congress. Congress could have passed it at any time, they just preferred for the court to take the heat. And clearly bills get passed now and then, everyone in the industry knows there’s a difference between a real bill with a chance of passing and a messaging bill that’s just there to keep the base engaged. The theater continues, keep enjoying the show.

Too bad I don't enjoy bullshit, its one of the reasons I want to leave this country. The politicians don't actually seem to give a shit about their constituents, but they're happy to pretend they do.

Unfortunately, leaving this country means going to another one, and that other country will also have politicians. And I suspect that their politicians will be not significantly better than US ones. (If you've got a country that has good politicians, I'd like to hear of it!)

Possibly Switzerland? But then, they don’t have all that much of a federal government to begin with.

Europe seems to actually have protections for privacy, so that's one hell of a start

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