The filibuster stays: I wonder…
…whether this agreement of McConnell’s is binding. Can he sign away his rights to amend the filibuster rules if he wins the Senate Majority Leader position in 2012? And what if the Republicans win control of the Senate in 2012, but then boot out McConnell and elect someone else as Leader? Would the Leader still be bound by McConnell’s agreement?
I don’t think the Republicans are contemplating ending the filibuster, anyway, even if they should win in 2012. They’re not ones to go for the jugular; at least the current crop isn’t. And in fact it would be a generally bad idea for either party to change the filibuster rules, unless you believe the end justifies the means. This particular check on power benefits us all in working against the tyranny of an “overbearing majority” of which I wrote in this article. Once the filibuster is undone by either party, we would lose its protective value forever.
But the Democrats should have shut up about it, then. Before the 2010 election they talked and talked about doing away with the filibuster in the new session. Does anyone have any doubt that they would have done so if they hadn’t performed so badly in the last election? The only thing that stops them from doing away with the filibuster right now is the fact that they lost so many members, as well as fear of losing more in the future. If and when Republicans take over, the Democrats will be singing the praises of the filibuster once more.
The Republican party is slowly, far to slowly, becoming more conservative. I think it highly unlikely that a more conservative Republican controlled Senate in 2013 will weaken the filibuster rule. For all the bluster by the Republicans in the middle of the last decade, their experience in 2009 will keep fresh in their minds, the transient nature of political power, and how important it is to protect the nation from sweeping change pushed by a narrow majority.
It’s not about “going for the jugular”. It’s about good governance. “Going for the jugular”, is how the Democrats earned their shellacking last November. If the electorate is solidly behind your vision for America, you can eventually get that agenda passed, even with less than 60 seats in the Senate.
The filibuster is a good thing. The senate is supposed to be a filter for the passions of the house. The senate is there to slow things down.