The filibuster

Proposals to get rid of or mitigate the effects of the Senate filibuster seem to have increased lately. Daily Kos is circulating a petition to Congress to eliminate the filibuster, the New Yorker had a recent article on the inanity and ridiculousness of many Senate rules, not just the filibuster, and Norman Ornstein recently had an article in the New York Times about fixing the filibuster. It would be good to get rid of the filibuster. It would certainly improve the process of passing bills. The likelihood of getting any changes under the present circumstances is remote, however. Neither party is willing to give up a source of bargaining power in dealing with the other party. The supposed virtues of bipartisan decision making trumps the operation of simple majority rule. Without an underlying change in the dynamics of the relations among the President, the Senate, and the House, a direct attack on the filibuster will not be successful. A lot of other changes are necessary before pressure on the Senate will be strong enough to induce it to change its procedures. My book is an attempt to provide a deeper analysis of the problem, one that suggests how to make these other changes.