Saturday, April 20, 2013

This Time, I Hope He Means It

Harry Reid made a very bad bargain last January with Mitch McConnell.  In exchange for sinking the hopes for filibuster reform, McConnell said "Trust me, I really will stop abusing the rules," and Reid replied "I believe you," no doubt thinking of preserving the comity of the Senate.

Well, as it turns out, comity be damned.  To McConnell, comity is a football, and Reid is the one trying to kick it.  And ending up on his back, over and over again.  (Apologies to "Peanuts.")

The most recent fiasco with the gun bill amendments is only the latest example of how, for the sake of maximizing and expanding his political power, McConnell is willing to use the rules design to ensure debate to actually thwart any form of practical accomplishment on behalf of the American people.  That, of course, is not what the rules are intended to do, but McConnell doesn't care.  He wants power, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to get it.  Including lying to Reid, the Majority Leader and his colleague.

I hope Reid's recent statement about revisiting the idea of changing the rules has some seriousness of purpose behind it.  My fear is that it's just Reid floating a trial balloon that has little more than the hot air inside of it--or worse, that it's just Reid enjoying the luxury of getting angry in front of a sympathetic audience.

I can't say that I'm in favor of completely doing away with the filibuster.  After all, during the gun debate, it stopped a lot of bad ideas as well as good ones (case in point:  concealed-carry reciprocity between states).  What I am in favor of, purely and simply, is a return to the speaking filibuster.  After all, the filibuster rule is designed to cut off debate.  Well then, my feeling is that, if you want to debate, debate already.  Your a member of the World's Greatest Deliberative Body, so act like it, already.  I don't think that liberals have anything to fear from that; our ideas are better, and will prevail ultimately in a public debate.

Can we have at least THAT much change, Harry?  It wouldn't be a really new idea, after all.  There's a reason that "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" is a classic.  Maybe, one day, the actual debates in the Senate can be classic, too--and we can stop using the rules to hold back tomorrow.

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