The filibuster must die
by James on Mar.01, 2010, under Politics
The senate filibuster is wrong, it has alway been wrong and so it shall remain. I don’t care who uses it or why. The reason for this is simple, we live (ostensibly) in a democratic society. Typically in a democratic society the will of the minority is not allowed to overrule the will of the majority.
That is, though, exactly what filibuster is. One (or sometimes a small group) senator is able to indefinitely delay the passage of a bill. The House of Representatives does not allow this, why does the Senate? Selfishness.
All senators hate the filibuster because it can get in the way of what they want but at the same time, they all love it because it allows them to get what they want. The best part of it is, that not wanting to be inconvenienced, senators are not even required to stand and talk to filibuster. The filibustering senator merely says he is and then everyone can go home.
While the Constitution gives the Senate the power to form its own rules, this is downright stupid. Unfortunately, the only way around their selfishness would involve getting them to either change it directly or through a Constitutional amendment. I don’t see either of those things ever happening.
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2 Comments for this entry
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March 2nd, 2010 on 09:25
Yeah, some senator was making the argument that the filibuster gives the minority the ability to have their voice heard since the majority shouldn’t always be allowed to run unchecked. Last time I heard we had these things like checks and balances in place directly to halt any one governmental entity from running unchecked. Also if the people of this nation have voted in a group with a like mind set to the point they have a majority, then isn’t that group representing the majority interests of the nation?
Historically the filibuster has been used for such great things as trying to block civil rights. I would love to understand how the minority voice in the Senate needed the right to try and continue to oppress a segment of our country?
I would be okay with a compromise of some form type of micro filibuster where the minority could tie up the process for a few hours before the opposing party was allowed to call a vote. Back in the day when Senators would simply start reading from the phone book it was stupid and it still is.
March 2nd, 2010 on 09:49
Indeed, simple solution would be to limit the debate to, say, two hours per senator. This way passage could be halted, for quiet a while if there is a large enough coalition, and once it’s all done and over with, they can’t say that they were not given time to voice their grievances.