{"id":614583,"date":"2009-12-23T15:56:47","date_gmt":"2009-12-23T20:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.grist.org\/article\/2009-12-23-time-to-bust-the-filibuster\/"},"modified":"2009-12-23T15:56:47","modified_gmt":"2009-12-23T20:56:47","slug":"time-to-bust-the-filibuster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/614583","title":{"rendered":"Time to bust the filibuster"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\tby David Roberts <\/p>\n<p>I have been one among many in the progressive world trying to <a href=\"http:\/\/feeds.grist.org\/article\/2009-11-02-the-real-reason-the-climate-bill-is-going-to-suck\">draw more attention to the dysfunctions of the U.S. Senate<\/a>, in particular the now-routine use of the filibuster, which has put a default 60-vote requirement on legislation that amounts to a fundamental change in U.S. governance&#8212;and not a positive change.<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>It seems the subject is finally catching on. The Atlantic&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/jamesfallows.theatlantic.com\/archives\/2009\/12\/the_filibuster_and_family_full.php\">James Fallows<\/a> and the NYT&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2009\/12\/21\/opinion\/21krugman.html\">Paul Krugman<\/a> have both written excellent columns on the subject recently, and now liberal heroine Rachel Maddow has taken up the banner. Here&#8217;s a fantastic clip from her show a couple nights ago, which addresses the filibuster head-on, in her typically erudite and entertaining way:<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>And here&#8217;s the clip that immediately followed&#8212;if you watch to the end, you see that NYT columnist Tom Friedman applies the filibuster critique to the climate\/energy bill:<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>We need more people talking about this. Please, green activists, let go of your obsession with Obama&#8217;s alleged character flaws and think more about the structural and institutional barriers to action! Especially the filibuster: It&#8217;s blocking U.S. action, which is blocking international action. The world&#8217;s fate rests in the myopic, sociopathically indifferent hands of Ben Nelson, who represents one-half of one percent of U.S. citizens. Do you want it that way?<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<p>UPDATE: Lo and behold! As I speak, People for the American Way has put out a new report: &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.commondreams.org\/newswire\/2009\/12\/23-7\">The Numbers Don&rsquo;t Lie&#8212;GOP Obstruction Efforts Unprecedented in Senate<\/a>.&#8221; A must-read, as they say.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.grist.org\/article\/2010-01-04-climate-science-is-older-and-better-established-than-you-think\/\">Climate science is older and better established than you think [VIDEO]<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.grist.org\/article\/2009-12-29-how-environmentally-friendly-is-washingtons-congressional-delega\/\">How environmentally friendly is Washington&#8217;s congressional delegation?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.grist.org\/article\/2009-12-23-what-you-need-to-know-following-copenhagen-climate-summit\/\">What you need to know following the Copenhagen climate summit<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<br clear=\"both\" style=\"clear: both;\"\/><br \/>\n<br clear=\"both\" style=\"clear: both;\"\/><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ads.pheedo.com\/click.phdo?s=ddd973fdfcee669f43847ba3032399b7&#038;p=1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" style=\"border: 0;\" border=\"0\" src=\"http:\/\/ads.pheedo.com\/img.phdo?s=ddd973fdfcee669f43847ba3032399b7&#038;p=1\"\/><\/a><br \/>\n<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" height=\"0\" width=\"0\" border=\"0\" style=\"display:none\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/a.rfihub.com\/eus.gif?resize=0%2C0\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by David Roberts I have been one among many in the progressive world trying to draw more attention to the dysfunctions of the U.S. Senate, in particular the now-routine use of the filibuster, which has put a default 60-vote requirement on legislation that amounts to a fundamental change in U.S. governance&#8212;and not a positive change. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":734,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4821],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-614583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-2zSD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614583","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/734"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=614583"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/614583\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=614583"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=614583"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=614583"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}