In one of the best floor speeches in some time, Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock implored Democrats to act on voter rights.
Sen. Raphael Warnock hit the nail on the head.
Senator Raphael Warnock went to the Senate floor and gave a message that likely made a difference. After all, the President and Majority leader have now thrown voter rights at the top of the queue.
The Senator reminded Democrats that Republicans had shown no desire to govern. He said it was up to Democrats to govern. But there was a part of his speech that had my skin crawling as it distilled America’s reality.
Some of my Democratic colleagues are saying, but what about bipartisanship? Isn’t that important? Warnock said. “I say, of course, it is. But here’s the thing. We must remember slavery was bipartisan. Jim Crow segregation was bipartisan. The refusal of women’s suffrage was bipartisan. The denial of the basic dignity of members of the LGBTQ community has long been bipartisan. The Three-Fifths Compromise was the creation of a putative national unity at the expense of black people’s basic humanity.”
Warnock then breaks it down with the critical question.
“So when colleagues in this chamber talk to me about bipartisanship which I believe in, I just have to ask at whose expense?” Warnock asked. “Who is being asked to foot the bill for this bipartisanship? And is liberty itself the cost? I submit that that’s a price too high and a bridge too far to my Democratic colleagues. I say while it is deeply unfortunate, it is more than apparent that it has been left to us to handle alone the task of safeguarding our democracy. The judgment of history is upon us.”
The country is listening, urging, and waoiting.