Letter: Parker sounding like McConnell in column against HR1

Kathleen Parker's column "Manchin stands up for bipartisanship," April 11, might have as easily been titled "Manchin stands up for dial telephones." Both dial telephones and bipartisanship seemed to have become as good as extinct a generation ago.

Parker then goes on to characterize HR1, named the "For the People Act," as "a Democratic Party power grab," a bill that would go far to guarantee the right to vote for all Americans in the face of massive voter suppression across the country. She used exactly the same characterization that Mitch McConell, the current king of mindless obstructionism, used. She mentions the states' rights issue in discussing HR1's overriding of a state's right to control voting regulation and apportionment, a right that has evolved into partisan gerrymandering and a system in which politicians choose their voters instead of the other way around (New York state included ). It is a system that is, at this very minute, working to deny the voting franchise to millions.

Parker apparently hasn't been aware of the political dynamic that has been in control of Congress and the country for decades. Bipartisanship is a nice concept and, in the distant past, it sometimes worked. Perhaps in the future, it will work again. Holding up what the country desperately needs for that dream is suicidal. The filibuster is and has been a tool, not to protect a minority view but to ensure minority rule.

Frederick Ziemann

Saratoga Springs