More on the filibuster debate
There is an interesting article in today’s Salon in which the author (Farhad Manjoo) argues that it is not in Democrats’ long-term interests to oppose Republican efforts to ban the filibuster. In theory, I think I agree, but in practice, it’s a bit trickier. The main element of Manjoo’s argument is that the filibuster is esssentially a tool for maintaining the status quo. Democrats, being the more liberal of the two major parties, tend to have policy objectives that involve governmental change, reform, and activism; in order to execute these objectives, they must pass large pieces of legislation.