EDITORIAL: Radical activists salivating at Dem control of the Senate

The presidential race hogs the attention, but the fight for the Senate could be even more consequential.

Neither of Nevada’s two senators will face the voters this year, but the election results in the upper chamber will have potentially wide-ranging ramifications for Silver State residents. Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden insists that he’s not a puppet of his party’s metastasizing and crazed far left, but if Republicans lose control of the Senate in November, he’ll be sorely tested on that point.

The GOP currently holds 53 seats, but must defend 23 of those this fall, at least 10 of which are in play. Meanwhile, just one Democratic incumbent (in Alabama) is an underdog, and the party need only to flip three or four seats — depending on who wins the Oval Office — to regain the majority.

In normal times, the filibuster offers the minority party in the Senate the power to block the majority as long as it has at least 40 votes. But these are not normal times. And Democrats have been increasingly vocal about changing the rules to kill the filibuster should they take power. Former President Barack Obama recently signaled his support for the move, and Mr. Biden — formerly opposed — now says he’s open to it.

The debate highlights how the thirst for power can undermine reason and rational deliberation. If Democrats kill the filibuster, after all, they will be at the mercy of Republicans when — and it will happen — they are again relegated to the minority. (See: Harry Reid and judicial nominees.) In addition, the chances that Democrats vastly overreach absent any minority check is all but guaranteed.

Without the filibuster, there will be immense pressure from progressives to impose their destructive wish list on the country. The possibilities include packing the Supreme Court; statehood for Washington, D.C., and potentially Puerto Rico; massive new tax hikes to pay for free college, the nationalization of health care and the dismantling of the U.S. economy through the Green New Deal; forced unionism for workers; a boundless expansion of the regulatory bureaucracy; sweeping gun control; and the erosion of the First Amendment under the guise of campaign finance reform.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that only five of 47 senators currently caucusing with the Democrats oppose killing the filibuster. They will fast become roadkill to radical activists should they not see the progressive light as members of the majority.

Democrats will couch any such power grab in solemn platitudes about promoting democracy and the like. That will be pure poppycock. After all, what do you think they would have said about the filibuster had Mitch McConnell and the GOP majority decided to blow up the tradition in order to further the Trump agenda? Bingo.