The tyranny of the minority in the Senate

Most probably know it only takes 41 out of 100 Senators voting to stop any legislation in the Senate. Said another way, it takes 60 Senators voting together to pass anything in the Senate. Most probably don’t know that any/none of this is in our Constitution. We Americans via the Senate have made all this up over the last 200 plus years. Our present two party system has a similar history.

Most Americans are fair. A majority vote will be accepted by the population. What has happened in the Senate has rendered it less manageable. The House of Representatives used to have similar rules about filibusters and cloture, and changed them to make the House more reasonably manageable. The Senate can do the same, if they do it, or we American voters elect those who will do it.

The normal objections to change are two. One is overcoming the 66 vote rule to change things, but again, it is a Senate rule, not something in the Constitution. The other is the party rancor as to not doing it on their watch. Depending on which national party is in the majority, one chooses to act now, while another wants to postpone until a future majority will give their party the advantage. Nowhere in this debate is there discussion about what is good for our United States of America. And for those who provide a good reason as to the importance of protecting the rights of the minority (to rule), they are listened to. One also expects they will listen to the rights of those who vote for Senators.

And nowhere in this article is there a suggestion of ending the filibuster in the Senate. Rather, restore the filibuster to it original evolved purpose which was a painful way to avoid voting on major issues. By painful, one means having to take the floor for 15 to 24 hours before passing control on to a fellow Senator, which is painful enough for not being allowed to go to the bathroom, amplified by age. Right now gentlemanly respect only requires the suggestion of a filibuster to invoke the now accepted 60 vote rule.

The idea that the Senators and the Senate are some great deliberative group may have been borrowed from history. Present demonstrated behavior is that our national interest is low on the list of these USA Senator’s priorities. Present demonstrated behavior is that too many Senators act in their self interest first*, their State second, and the USA last. One can conclude that the best way to change the tyranny of the minority in the Senate is for citizens to vote out those opposed to change, and vote in those in favor. Lest this idea sound too revolutionary for the Senate, all we are saying is give the people a chance to ask the questions, and vote.

* Teddy Kennedy is opposing off-shore electricity generating wind farms (5 miles from his Kennedy family estate), reportedly (in his words) because that is where he sails. Lamar Alexander from the interior state of Tennessee is opposing the same kind of off-shore wind farms nationally. That he has valuable beach front property on Nantucket Island makes this seem a conflict of interest.