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When our republic was created, the population ratio between the largest and smallest state was 13 to 1. Now, it’s 68 to 1. Because of the abuse of the filibuster, 41 senators representing less than 11 percent of the nation’s population can, in principle, block action supported by 59 senators representing more than 89 percent of our population. And you wonder why it’s so hard to get anything done in Washington?I’m a chronic optimist about America. But we are letting stupid politics, irrational ideas on fiscal policy and an antiquated political structure undermine our power.
We need a new conservatism in our country that is worthy of the name. We need liberals willing to speak out on the threat our daft politics poses to our influence in the world. We need moderates who do more than stick their fingers in the wind to calculate the halfway point between two political poles.
And, yes, we need to reform a Senate that has become an embarrassment to our democratic claims.
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Syndication
Perhaps E.J. Dionne should be reminded that the United States is a federal constitutional republic.
The word 'democracy' appears nowhere in our Constitution. We happen to be a democracy in the broad sense of: "a political form of government where governing power is derived from the people," and that's all well and good.
But we are not, and have never been, a democracy in the sense of states being represented by their population in the Senate. If the Senate is embarrassing to E.J. Dionne's or "our" claims, it is because these claims are wrong.
That's quite a narrow point to bitch about. i don't get you sometimes :)
Spot frickin' on! And thank FSM we're not. The mob is doing damage enough, thank you.
And to your point about 'democracy', that's its BROAD meaning. Itsnarrow meaning is what I think you're kvetching on about. If you meantsomething like 'fully REPRESENTATIVE democracy', then you're right ofcourse. Only Switzerland is close to perfection from that perspective.Thank jeebus we're a republic. Because if we were a pure democracy,we'd be more fucked than we are. I still don't get why you chose togripe about this in the context of Dionne's article. It's quite thenon sequitur.
I suppose if you ignore the part about the US being a federal republic and states having rights and themselves being represented in the Senate it might look like a non sequitur.
Basically Dionne doesn't like us being a federal republic and finds it antiquated and embarrassing. So fuck him, I see the federal government's anti-majoritarianism and competition between the states as a source of strength, and no amount of shrill whining about how 51% should be able to do whatever they want to the other 49% is going to make me feel otherwise.
Democracy, in the sense Dionne wants, is 51 wolves and 49 lambs voting on what to have for dinner.
We have something better.
you are just so overreading his article to suit your own favorite gripes.
try to cut down on the caffeine and avoid writing blatant bs like this: "Dionne doesn't like us being a federal republic" its just bullshit that dionne doesn't like us being a republic. his article doesn't hint at that AT ALL. the definition of a republic is "A political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them". we are that whether or not the filibuster is reformed. voters electing representatives to vote 51-49 on something is the same as voters electing representatives to vote 61-39 on something -- ITS STILL A FUCKING REPUBLIC. this thread is just stupid and a complete non sequitur.
I certainly never claimed it wasn't a republic, but I did speak of the US being a federal republic. Are you familiar with federations? From the wiki:
Assuming you know this, apparently you've forgotten the part where he complained about the population difference between states: missing the fact that it's the states themselves who are represented in the Senate regardless of population. This is anti-federalist of him.
Voting 51-49 clearly isn't what makes him anti-federalist; it makes him majoritarian.
So you're muddling two separate issues… I am both a federalist who supports every state having the same vote, and an anti-majoritarian who supports the filibuster.
As an aside, it will be amusing to see how many lefties suddenly become pro-filibuster once they lose control of the Senate, and how many conservatives suddenly become anti-filibuster. Unlike the masses of both camps, my position has the virtue of consistency: I'm for the filibuster regardless of which party is in power.
oh well. i did my best. head hurts now.