By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher, The San Diego Voice and Viewpoint
With the failure to overturn the Filibuster Rule in the United States Senate, it would appear that the John Lewis Voting Act and the Voting Rights Act are dead because of two “Dixiecrat Senators” and a Republican blockade in the Senate that has long forgotten the Oath of Office that each of them took when taking their positions of office.
However, there is hope that the President will start using the power of his office on behalf of the people who put him in the presidency. Without the Black Vote, there would be no Joe Biden presidency. This fact has to become more important than preserving the traditions of the U.S. Senate. The President must now formulate a complete plan of Executive Orders that will prepare to send federal monitors to each state that has enacted Voter Suppression laws such as the reduction of polling sites, the purging of election rolls so as to reduce the number of persons who can vote, and inserting a federal presence at every point of the electoral process permitted by Federal law. The President must show, through action and not just speeches as if on the campaign trail, that he is serious about using all the powers of his office to protect the electoral process.
This also means that the United States Department of Justice must move forcefully and quickly in responding to the call for investigations which will follow a more aggressive course of action by the President. Senator Schumer must decide whether he is in control of the U.S. Senate or Mitch McConnell, who appears to still be in charge in spite of the would-be Democratic majority in the Senate. The two Senate Democrats-in-name-only who are now openly voting with the Republicans against their own party’s President, should just change their party registration and complete the transition to the other side. It’s time for a visible plan, Mr. President. The American people are waiting.