Bill Gerling
Jefferson City
Dear Editor:
A challenge was presented in a recent LTE about voting Democratic. Biden has a higher popularity rating right now than Trump attained in four years as president. Biden could not raise taxes as vice president as alleged. Only the House of Representatives can initiate tax changes. Biden may have used notes during a news conference to assure accuracy, but Trump told over 30,000 lies and misstatements during his presidency, according to the Washington Post. As an expert on Senate protocol and Constitution, U.S. Sen. Robert Byrd was Biden's mentor. Byrd belonged to the KKK for one year and stated it was his most egregious mistake.
According to Snopes, it is unproven that Kamala Harris was laughing at the situation on the border. She was answering a number of questions while addressing food insecurity and the importance of vaccinations. She did confer with former President Clinton on empowering women because the Clinton Foundation supports empowering women and girls in the U.S. and around the world through job and leadership training. Trump has been accused by 26 women of sexual misconduct. Three have filed suit against him in addition to potential charges he is facing in New York, Georgia, and by people injured in the Jan. 6 insurrection, which he encouraged.
The filibuster as a relic of Jim Crow was a reference to Southern segregationists using it multiple times to block civil rights laws. Yes, the Dixiecrats were segregationists but the Civil Rights acts in 1964, Voting Rights Act, and Fair Housing Act were promoted and passed during Lyndon Johnson's Democratic administration. The Republicans then adopted the Southern Strategy to recruit former segregationists to turn the South red. Republicans are beginning to lose parts of the South due to changing demographics. In response, they are adopting voter suppression laws to prevent citizens from voting. Democrats, such as Rita Hart in Iowa, concede close elections (six votes) while Trump tried to erase Democratic votes in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona.
An exception for civil rights and voting laws should be carved out of the filibuster for the majority in the Senate just as McConnell did for the appointment of judges. The federal government has used its power to make to protect and expand voting rights in these amendments: 15 - ex-slaves; 19 - women; 24 - abolish poll taxes; 26 - 18-year-olds; and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.