Passing SAVE Act Would Signal Congress Actually Answers To Voters, Which Is Why Congress Hates It

The Senate GOP’s refusal to do what’s necessary to pass the SAVE America Act has been a sight to behold.

From Majority Leader John Thune’s failure theater to Texas Sen. John Cornyn’s filibuster flip-flop to Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s outright opposition to the bill, the GOP establishment is pulling out all the stops to avoid having to do actual work to approve widely supported voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements in elections.

But conservatives shouldn’t be surprised by this behavior, and here’s why.

Let’s say Senate Republicans abide by the wishes of their voters and force Democrats into a talking filibuster. And let’s say that this strategy pays off and the SAVE America Act gets passed.

If all that were to happen, it would prompt the GOP base to begin asking some pretty pertinent questions about the entire kerfuffle. Questions like, “Why did we have to fight tooth and nail against our own party to get this popular bill passed?” and “What other legislative priorities can we pressure Republicans into passing using this process?”

They’re the kinds of questions that get conservatives to start seeing themselves as self-governing citizens who possess the power to influence their elected officials — which is exactly why the Senate GOP is doing everything it can to stonewall the SAVE America Act.

For years, the Republican base has suffered a major crisis of complacency. Rather than engage in primaries and hold their elected officials accountable, too many GOP voters have opted to surrender their duty to self-governance to fake Republicans who despise them and their values.