Save The Filibuster
Via Outside the Beltway I see that George Will is defending the filibuster.
The filibuster is an important defense of minority rights, enabling democratic government to measure and respect not merely numbers but also intensity in public controversies. Filibusters enable intense minorities to slow the governmental juggernaut. Conservatives, who do not think government is sufficiently inhibited, should cherish this blocking mechanism. And someone should puncture Republicans' current triumphalism by reminding them that someday they will again be in the minority.
OK, but as he points out elsewhere, the use of the filibuster has been trivialized.
I might be willing to agree with him if the filibusterers had to go back to the filibuster as it was first conceived -- staying up all night, reading Maureen Dowd columns if necessary, anything to supposedly keep the debate alive.
The idea was to wear your opponents down, requiring them to come up with 60 votes to end the incessant talking. It's too easy now.
posted by Craig @ 11:51 PM
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