Civil Rights Act Of 1964

The Need For Filibuster Reform In The US Senate

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The Senate is in a crisis situation, unable to accomplish much, due to the ridiculous filibuster issue, which has totally derailed action or voting on so many matters in the past few years.

The Republican minority has been able, just by threatening a filibuster, to block approval of judicial and executive nominations, and prevent serious discussion and voting on crucial matters. The filibuster, however, does not presently require that any Senator or Senators take the floor and talk for hours and hours, as Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina did in 1957, when he set a record of 25 hours for a personal filibuster, or having an 83 day group filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, before finally cloture was voted, and the filibuster was overcome.

So there have been proposals to modify the present requirement that 60 votes are needed to allow movement forward on any Senate issue.

Some want a simple 51 vote majority, similar to the 218 simple vote majority needed in the House of Representatives, while others want a 55 vote majority needed to move forward.

And others suggest something even less of a controversy: Bills for debate could not be filibustered, and filibusters could not be used to prevent formal negotiations with the House on Senate passed legislation, what is called the formation of a conference committee, which used to be common, and now is very rare.

Also, a Senator would have to be on the floor to mount a filibuster, or else, a vote on the bill would proceed. So the old filibuster rule, best represented by the Thurmond example, would require a commitment by one or a group of Senators to give the effort by personal sacrifices, speaking constantly on the floor of the Senate, to stop the bill from moving forward.

Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico have proposed these reasonable changes, and Joe Biden, as presiding officer, could move such changes forward, but there are seven Democrats, out of the 55 in the new Senate, who seem to be opposed.

These are Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer of California, Carl Levin of Michigan, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, Max Baucus of Montana, Jack Reed of Rhode Island, and Mark Pryor of Arkansas. Notice that these Senators are all senior and older, longer serving members, with the shortest amount of service being Pryor, in the Senate since 2003.

This failure to understand how important reform is makes one watching this legislative mess feel very frustrated, and leaves one with the feeling that Senate reform will likely fail, and further undermine respect for our Congress and its ability to get things done!

48th Anniversary Of Landmark Civil Rights Act Of 1964: Transformative Event

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Today, July 2, is the 48th Anniversary of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, passed within seven months of Lyndon B. Johnson becoming President, a truly miraculous event, considering the strong and vehement opposition by Southern Democrats and many conservative Republicans.

The Civil Rights Act ended discrimination in all public accommodations, and promoted integration in education and the work force, and was a step toward the Voting Rights Act of 1965, ending all discrimination in voting in the South, and dramatically changing the South forever.

Of course, the South, which had been heavily Democratic switched to support of the Republican Party, much of which saw an opportunity to exploit the racial issue, as they have continued to do ever since, mostly in a veiled, but obvious way, including their constant racism regarding President Barack Obama. And it is Republican Governors who are trying to take away voting rights in time for the election, and in so doing, are violating the Voting Rights Act of 1965, leading to lawsuits by Attorney General Eric Holder, which helped to cause his being cited for contempt of Congress last week, a purely vindictive political act!

While there are indeed many whites in America who would wish for the “good old days” before the Civil Rights Act, everyone realizes the changes back then are permanent, like it or not!

The same is happening with the transformative event of the Obama Presidency, the Affordable Care Act, also called “ObamaCare”!

The Republicans are pledging to fight “tooth and nail” to repeal the law, but it will not happen, and they will have to get used to it, like it or not!

LBJ is best remembered for Civil Rights and Medicare, also bitterly opposed by Republicans and conservatives, and Barack Obama will be best remembered for the Affordable Care Act, and the elimination of Osama Bin Laden, another issue that the GOP avoids giving Obama much credit.

The Republicans fight the future, but the Democrats BRING the future, and on this day, just a few after Obama’s signature achievement on health care, let us salute LBJ for the Civil Rights Act accomplishment!

Presidential Courage And Human Rights: From John Quincy Adams To Barack Obama

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One of the most important roles of a President is to be a moral leader, a person who sets the standard for what is moral and ethical in public affairs,

And nothing is more important than to have the courage to take leadership on human rights matters, whether in the United States or in other nations.

In that regard, Barack Obama will always stand out for what he did on Wednesday, speaking up for gay rights, including the right to marry.

Who else among our Presidents can be seen as a moral leader on human rights issues?

John Quincy Adams, as President and in his post Presidential career in the House of Representatives, campaigned against slavery and the slave trade, and was censured by the House of Representatives for fighting the gag rule (forbidding discussion of slavery in the House chamber) over and over again. He also represented the slaves aboard the slave ship Amistad, and won the court case for their freedom in 1841.

Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, a move many thought was unwise and might undermine the Union effort during the Civil War. But he believed that African Americans should be given freedom.

Harry Truman took the earliest steps in promoting civil rights for African Americans in the 1940s when segregation reigned in the South, and he went ahead anyway and promoted integration of the military and of the nation’s capital, Washington, DC.

Dwight D. Eisenhower alienated the white South when he sent in National Guard troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce integration of a public high school.

John F. Kennedy followed Eisenhower’s lead, in promoting National Guard intervention at the University of Mississippi and the University of Alabama, to bring about integration, and also proposed a civil rights law that he had to know would be extremely difficult to accomplish.

Lyndon B. Johnson, despite his Southern heritage, became the great proponent of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, knowing it would turn the white South over to the Republican Party, as it did.

Richard Nixon signed affirmative action into law, which became one of the great advancements in civil rights for women and minorities.

Jimmy Carter became the advocate of promoting human rights overseas, instead of accepting violations by so called “friendly” nations, as part of the business of diplomacy. He was bitterly criticized as naive, but his human rights beliefs remain one of his great legacies.

And now Barack Obama joins this group on Presidential courage in relation to the advancement of human rights! Kudos to him!

The “New South” Of Bill Clinton And Jimmy Carter Clashes With The “Old South” Of Billy Graham And Franklin Graham

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The American South, referring to the states of the Civil War which broke away from the Union, have been said to have changed in the years since the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965.

With African Americans given the right to vote, and civil rights being enforced by the federal government, we saw a switch of many white Democrats, who believed in segregation of the races, to the Republican Party, including a vast majority of state and national officeholders.

Those who remained Democrats were seen as “moderates” who wished to bridge the gap between the races, and keep the heritage of equal rights and social justice connected, and therefore, we saw the triumph of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton winning the Presidency, reflecting a “changed” South.

But while Carter and Clinton were inspirational to many, the truth is that the majority of white southerners remain what they were before—unwilling to accept racial equality, resentful of Northern liberal influence on their section of the country, and using their religious views to oppose gay rights, labor rights, women’s equality, and immigrant rights.

So despite Bill Clinton backing the fight against Amendment One in North Carolina, putting traditional marriage alone in the state constitution, the amendment passed easily, most notably supported by the Reverend Billy Graham, now 93, who along with his preacher son, Franklin Graham, show us just how little progress has been made in North Carolina, the last “Old South” state to ban gay marriage in its constitution.

Even with the popularity of Bill Clinton nationally, and the fact of the victories years ago of both Clinton and Jimmy Carter, the “Old South” is still very much evident in what some attempt to consider the “New South”! The past is not yet past, sad to say!

The “New” Lynching Mentality: “Stand Your Ground” Laws!

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The death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, and the decision of the local police not to question George Zimmerman, the man who killed him, and not to detain him, because of the Florida “Stand Your Ground” law passed by the Florida legislature ni 2005, and signed by Governor Jeb Bush, is all a sign of the “new” lynching mentality that exists in the nation.

With 21 states having passed this law since Florida did so in 2005, it is clear that this is a method to allow “lynching” in a legal fashion, and avoid any accountability for any shooter’s actions.

Lynching went on a for a century in many states, particularly in the South and Border states, and was ignored, leading to very few prosecutions and convictions. The US Government refused to take any action until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 allowed prosecution on a federal level.

Now there is a legal way to get around the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and there need not be any charges or accusations brought against the victim. Simply if someone is fearful of a black male, does not like the way he walks, dresses or looks you in the eye, is justification for the shooter to “stand his ground”!

It is hard enough to be born black, to grow up in many cases in a poor neighborhood, to have white people look at you as somehow someone not to be trusted, to be denied the opportunities for a good future that so many blacks, male and female, face, and to live daily with the internal fear that your life could end at any time simply because someone does not like the color of your skin.

This is a sad time in America, and requires serious assessment as to how to overcome the laws passed, that allow legalized murder simply based upon suspicion and racism.

Mississippi And Alabama Continue Their Bad Reputation From The 1960s

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Mississippi and Alabama vote tomorrow in the Republican Presidential primaries, and as we focus on the two states with the worst reputation possible fifty years ago, one has to wonder has anything changed?

The answer is NO, although now the majority of citizens of those two states vote Republican, rather than for the Democratic Party.

But all that happened is that the whites of those states switched, based on the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 under President Lyndon B. Johnson, from the Democrats to the Republicans, as the Republicans gave up their Reconstruction image of being pro African American rights, and therefore, inherited the segregationists of the 1960s.

Sure, African American involvement in the politics of those two Deep South states has multiplied, but still those states are dominated by the old racism and segregationist mentality of the 1960s! They remain among the poorest states of the union, both black and white citizens.

Now, those states are working to make it harder for minorities to vote, leading to court cases. Also, discrimination against immigrants of Hispanic ancestry is in full swing, particularly so in Alabama.

And a majority in a poll believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim, while at the same time, NOT believing in evolution, but instead the Bible creationist theory. So they do not believe in science, but believe in a Lord who discriminates based on race and nationality!

What can one say except throw their hands up in frustration and exasperation at the ignorance and narrow mindedness of these two states, whose reputation remains in the bottom ten of our 50 states, and very close to the bottom, if not the bottom!

The Tragedy Of The Republican Party: A Split Personality Outside The Mainstream!

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Chris Matthews on MSNBC this evening summarized the tragedy of the Republican Party: that it has been “hijacked” by disparate groups that cause the party grief!

First, we have what Matthews calls the “Dixiecrats”, the Southern segregationists, who left the Democratic Party after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 under President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Then, due to the school prayer decision (Engle V Vitale) and abortion rights decision (Roe V Wade) of the Supreme Court, the “Moral Majority” or “Christian Coalition” or “Evangelical Right” went over to the Republican Party in the 1970s.

Finally, conservative “hawkish” Democrats, dissatisfied with the nomination of George McGovern in 1972 and President Jimmy Carter in 1976 also went over to the Republicans as the “neoconservatives”.

The result has been a “split personality” party which has marginalized itself more and more over the years, and moved away from the mainstream of America, as the Republican Party was until the mid 1970s.

Unless Jon Huntsman can, somehow, gain a surge and make a major fight for the GOP nomination, the Republican Party is going to remain outside the mainstream of America!

Rush Limbaugh And The Ultimate Right Wing Agenda: Reverse The Social And Economic Progress Since World War II!

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Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh is on a roll with the Debt Ceiling Crisis and the Stock Market Crisis of the past few weeks, and he has declared war on all social and economic progress for the past 65 years, since World War II! Other right wing radio talk show hosts also promote what he does!

Actually, showing his total ignorance, Limbaugh probably means the past 80 years, since the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1930s!

By declaring, in any case, that it is time to reverse the past 65 years, that means the following:

1. The Harry Truman improvements on the New Deal programs of FDR.
2. Reversal of Truman’s executive order to enforce racial integration in the military.
3. Reversal of racial integration as ordered by the Supreme Court and enforced by Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson.
4. Reversal of Eisenhower’s acceptance of the New Deal and institutionalizing it.
5. Wiping out of the programs of the New Frontier of JFK and the Great Society of LBJ–including Medicare, Medicaid, Federal Aid to Education, Consumer Protection Laws, Civil Rights and Voting Rights Act, programs to fight poverty, Environmental laws, National Public Radio, Public
Broadcasting, and other programs.
6.Ending of Richard Nixon’s domestic reforms–including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Environmental Protection Agency, Consumer Products Safety Commission, Affirmative Action programs, and others.
7.Ending of programs to aid the disabled and handicapped, begun under George H W Bush.
8. Other reforms passed under Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and now Barack Obama.

This is totally insane, and the progressive movement MUST fight tooth and nail to prevent such total destruction of everything which has made America a better nation, a more tolerant nation, a more compassionate nation!

We cannot afford to go back to the 1920s, and there is no way that this agenda of Rush Limbaugh and his ilk can be allowed to triumph!

47th Anniversary Of Lyndon Johnson Signing Civil Rights Act: The Most Important Moment In Our Domestic History In 20th Century!

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Forty seven years ago today, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, arguably the most important moment in our domestic history in the entire 20th century!

It is impossible to imagine what America would be like had not this occurred when it did under a Southern President!

It is highly doubtful that any other President could have accomplished what LBJ did, and one has to wonder if EVER this legislation would have passed into law, had it not occurred when it did!

The sad thing is that a substantial minority of this country would be very satisfied if African Americans, and by implication, other minorities, had continued to be second class citizens!

But it was the right and the moral thing to do, to end the racial discrimination that was a cancer in our society!

Of course, it does not mean that there is no racial hatred and prejudice today, but it is far less, and at least, it is reality law suits can and have been brought to fight remaining vestiges of racism and discrimination!

The battle for civil rights and human rights is a never ending struggle, not only for racial minorities, but also for immigrant groups, women, and gay Americans!

We cannot rest as long as anyone is the victim of discrimination and prejudice, but our history is one of constantly improving conditions fought through court decisions and legislative action, as well as direct involvement by the people under the First Amendment!

This is what makes America a great nation, and a beacon for the world, as the greatest democracy which has existed!

And it is great that we celebrate this event on the same time frame as our national holiday, the Declaration of Independence, the document which most marks our concept of freedom and democracy to the world at large!