Redefining Democracy

By BlackJack

U.S. Senate Republicans are determined to change the rules and, if they succeed, all Americans will lose… and it may come back to bite them.

In the 2 terms of George W. Bush the senate has approved the nominations of over 200 federal court appointees. Many of them were hard-core conservative judges. In that same span of time the Democratic minority has used the filibuster tactic 10 times to block the appointment of those judges they deemed ultra-conservative to the point that they presented a danger to the legal system. For those bad with math the filibuster has been used less than 5% of the time.

In those cases where the Democrats were able to block an appointment, Mr. Bush (being the ‘uniter’ that he claims to be) often sent the same list back to the Senate for another vote. It would be easy to find appointees who were conservative enough to be palatable for the majority of Republicans (who are far less conservative than the current leadership) and still be acceptable to the Democratic minority.

Why is filibuster used at all? It's the ultimate tool of the minority party and, in the somewhat convoluted but effective democratic experiment called America, can sometimes be the only tool available to enforce balance in the system. A filibuster allows 41 senators to delay voting indefinitely and is intended to be the last line of defense. In the case of federal judgeships, who serve for life once appointed, the filibuster is an important method of veto for the minority.

The Republican leadership is considering exercising the ‘Nuclear Option’ to eliminate the filibuster. The long-term implications of such a change to the rules would be significant and far reaching. No longer would our basic democratic structure be able to provide balance. It seems to us that the Republican leadership has been long starved for power and now that they have it they seem intent to abuse it. Power corrupts, as they say, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Not all Republican senators are caught up in the fray. Many realize that they will one day be in the minority again (unless DeLay and crew succeed in changing all the rules in their favor) and the filibuster will be a tool that they’ll need to lean on. Unfortunately the tactics of the current administration are to take advantage of their position for the next 3 years with no regard for the future – of any of us. As usual, the rich and powerful get richer and more powerful and the rest of us – Democrats, Republicans and that even larger group they call the ‘moderates’ – will just continue to lose money, rights and representation.