Democrats’ Latest Obsession: The Filibuster

Okay, it might not be that new of an obsession. Democrats have never seemed comfortable with it to me. It is however receiving a lot of media attention at the moment because Democrats might consider doing away with it through a “nuclear option”.

From the Boston Herald:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is considering a Senate vote in the new year to limit their use.

“I think that the rules have been abused and that we’re going to work to change them,” Reid, D-Nev., told reporters this past week. “We’re not going to do away with the filibuster, but we’re going to make the Senate a more meaningful place, we’re going to make it so that we can get things done.”

Democrats say that vote to change the rules would require a simple majority of senators, and they argue that the Constitution lets Senate majorities write new rules for the chamber. That, in effect, would mean Democrats could change the rules over GOP opposition, assuming 51 Democrats go along.

Republicans say they filibuster legislation because Reid blocks them from offering amendments. They also note that Senate rules require that the body’s procedures can be changed only by a two-thirds majority.

Changing Senate rules by simple majority, rather than a two-thirds vote, is rarely done and referred to as “the nuclear option” because it is considered an extreme move that can trigger all-out partisan battling.

This nothing new from the Democrats, we’ve heard it before. The idea of requiring broad compromises and bipartisan legislation is apparently so scary to the Democrats that they’d rather do away with the filibuster, and face eventual retaliation from a future Republican majority, than to preserve it.

Someone should sit down with the Democratic Senators and explain the concept of “the tyranny of the majority” to them.