Another Year, Another Congress

America's mistaken image of the filibuster

The new 112th Congress gets underway today. The GOP controlled House goes through the motions of repealing "Obamacare"[1] while the Senate ponders much needed changes to its tortuous parliamentary rules. Most rational people consider the filibuster rule as it now stands broken. Rather than protecting minority rights, it allows a minority to block popular legislation without hardly lifting a finger, let alone reading from the DC phone book [photo: Actor Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington][2] US Person has called for reform before {"filibuster"}, and now is the perfect time to address the issue, since the Constitution allows the Senate to pass a rule change at the beginning of a new Congress with a simple majority (Article I, Section 5, Clause 2). In the period 2007-2008, there was a record 139 cloture votes filed, and 136 filed in 2009-10. Compare this record to only 7 cloture votes in the 1969-70 Senate session midst the divisive years of the Vietnam War. Some observers think that a rule changed accomplished without opposition support would be bad precedent as they project yet another GOP victory in 2012. But Democrats would be well advised to pass a new filibuster rule they could live with as the minority now, while they have the votes, if they expect to accomplish anything in the remaining two years of Obamacon's tenure in office. The filibuster rule was not a part of the Founders' plan for the legislative branch, and it has clearly outgrown its usefulness in modern times.

[1]The repeal vote is not the only theatre planned by the so-called Tea Partiers. New House leaders will allow the reading of the entire Constitution into the record. The recitation will cost an estimated $1 million, but it plays well with the "hicks" who were hoodwinked yet again by well-heeled corporate sycophants posing as populist saviors of the Republic. A prominent Washington lobbying firm held an invitation-only fiesta for incoming GOP Congressmen featuring a country western singing star as entertainment. A book of tickets fetched a donation of $50,000. The hegemony of pecuniary interests in American politics goes back to the original 1773 "Tea Party" at Boston harbor, when William Molineux, a sometime hardware merchant, embezzler, smuggler and "first leader of dirty matters", led a mob of 500 to intimidate Boston merchants expecting consignments of British tea into supporting a boycott. Eight of the original 30-150 'indians', who tossed more than 9,000 lbs of tea into the harbor possibly under the control of Molineux, were hired by one radical merchant according to historian Dirk Hoerder. The dedication of modern Tea Partiers to the Constitution is only skin deep, since they vociferously oppose parts of our charter. They have problems with the 14th Amendment's guarantee of citizenship by birth, and several prominent extremists want repeal of the 17th Amendment allowing the popular election of senators. In essence, they stand for democracy for those white natives who can pay for it.
[2] Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) has introduced the "Mr. Smith Bill" requiring senators to physically hold the floor to sustain a filibuster. Life imitates Art.