End of the Senate

I never tire of reminding people that one of our most precious assets as a nation is the Consent of the Governed. America has no ethnic roots, or any of the kind of long history that binds most nations together. We are a nation founded on the idea that we can govern ourselves. That idea rests on other ideas, including a faith in each other to keep our promises, and deal with each other honorably. Our constitution is little more than a contract between the citizens of the nation. It specifies how laws may be changed, and limits lawmaking to areas that the constitution specifies.

It is with great alarm that I see the US Senate "pull the trigger" on the "Nuclear option". This is not because I have particular distaste for the judicial nominees that this move is intended to advance. It is because the way it was done is tantamount to discarding the Senate rules.

Let me explain.

The rules of the senate are very old. Only 1/3 of the composition of the Senate changes every 2 years, so is considered a "continuous" body. The House adopts new rules every 2 years, because it is a new body every 2 years. The Senate has existed since the ratification of the constitution.

According to the rules, it takes a 2/3 vote to make a change to the rules.

So how did the majority in the Senate manage to change the rules with a 52-48 vote? They cheated. The ruling of the chair can be manipulated, and when challenged, a (wrong) decision can be affirmed by a majority vote. The gory details can be found here. Briefly, the chair made a ruling, and when a 52-48 majority backed the chair, it was done.

A rule change requiring 2/3 vote was accomplished with a simple majority. It is beyond foolish to think that this is the last time this will be done, or that this sort of power grab will not be repeated. The 2/3 majority to change the rules is as good as dead, and with it, the filibuster.

Those with a sense of honor should be aghast at this. It is clearly not within the spirit of the rules of the Senate, and this sort of dishonest ruling backed up by majoritarian thuggery should be foreign to our republic, but here we are, and I see little outrage in my fellow citizens.

Charles Krauthammer writes about this very subject in a recent editorial, and he hits the nail on the head. He highlights all the lawless behavior that has been accepted during this administration, with the enthusiastic endorsement of some in the Congress.

As I have said many times, the filibuster has been a vital obstacle to bad legislation from the beginning, either implicitly before 1917, or explicitly in more recent years. The founders meant it to be so, as the "senatorial saucer" into which hot tea is poured to cool.

A Senate without rules, with approval from a diffident citizenry, will no doubt bring us a much more muscular federal government, solving our problems whether we want them solved or not. Those seeking power will gravitate even more strongly to the source of that power - Washington DC - where more pesky limits on that power have now been brushed away.

Our forefathers bled and died to defend our freedom. We owe it to them to restore the filibuster and the rules of the Senate, but even more, we owe it to them to reject the dishonor brought to the senate for those who will flout senate rules and tradition for short term political payoff.

The Rule of Law is what sets the United States apart. The law is meaningless if our leaders will not respect it, or if the citizens will not defend it from leaders who disrespect it. Without respect for law and our constitution, the temptation to become just another banana republic, with nuclear weapons and global reach, will be a very real danger.