A PSA about the “filibuster” (and why it has become a complete fraud)
In this much-too-long-for-the-21st-century video, I offer an explanation of just why the filibuster — or more precisely, the modern filibuster—cannot be justified. It cannot be justified as a matter of tradition; it cannot be justified as a way to protect “minority rights”; and it cannot be justified as facilitating deliberation. It is instead—because now used routinely, and effective if just 41 senators join it—a tool by which the most extreme political minority in the United States gets to veto actions by the Senate: Take 21 of the most Trump-supporting states, giving you 42 senators, that can represent as little as 21% of the United States population.
These arguments are not new to anyone who has studied the institution. But it is critical they be understood more broadly. Hence, a PSA. Whatever justification there may have been at one time for the institution that bears the name “filibuster” (and there wasn’t much of a justification for it, ever), that institution has no relationship to the institution now. We should stop talking as if there is any plausible justification for giving the most extreme in America, representing as little as 21% of the population, the power to set America’s democratic agenda.
Period.
