E.J. Dionne: We are no longer a normal democracy

[DrToast]

It's quite clear that substantial majorities in both houses of Congress favored either a public option or a Medicare buy-in.

In a normal democracy, such majorities would work their will, a law would pass, and champagne corks would pop. But everyone must get it through their heads that thanks to the bizarre habits of the Senate, we are no longer a normal democracy.

Because of a front of Republican obstruction and the ludicrous idea that all legislation requires a supermajority of 60 votes, power has passed from the majority to tiny minorities, sometimes minorities of one.

Worse, more influence in this system flows to those willing to kill a bill than to those who most devoutly want to pass one. The paradox in this case is that senators who care most passionately about extending health coverage to 31 million Americans have the least power.

That's why Joe Lieberman held the whip hand in killing the idea of letting Americans 55 and older buy into Medicare. Unlike liberal senators such as Jay Rockefeller or Sherrod Brown, Lieberman was perfectly happy to see the health-care proposal die if that was the price of getting himself into the spotlight.

What transpired was thus not the product of some magic show in which more conservative senators are endowed with mysteriously ingenious negotiating abilities while liberals are a bunch of bunglers. The whole system is biased to the right because the Senate itself -- a body in which Wyoming and Utah have as much representation as New York and California -- is tilted in a conservative direction. The 60-vote requirement empowers conservatives even more.

In light of this, the notion that letting the current health-care bill perish would produce a more progressive bill later is preposterous. Anyone who wants to change or even abolish the Senate has my full support. But that is not an option now.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/20/AR2009122002129.html

It's very sad what's happened to our democracy. Yet for some reason nobody in the party seems to give a shit.

[Captain Hilts]

1. Well said, E.J. And folks here rationalize what's happened. nt

[joeybee12]

2. Did any Senator in FAVOR of the bill get on the nightly news? NO! Only

those who opposed it...Dionne is right...trying to get something done doesn't get you any attention.

[WeDidIt]

3. Since the U.S. has NEVER BEEN a democracy, that statement is not surprising

We are a representive republic.

[DrToast]

5. A republic is a form of democracy

Stop being anal.

[WeDidIt]

7. Wrong

Though democratic principles apply, democracies place all questions before the entire polity.

The closest thing to a democracy in the U.S. is the state of California, and that state is almost ungovernable.

[ThomThom]

13. We are a republic with a representative democracy for a style

of government.
With that you can drive it left or right depending. That is way the vote is so all important.

[ThomThom]

14. I might also add with a constitution that should be the law

some how the Supreme Court has lost it's perspective and fallen to partisan politics.

[27inCali]

15. yep

real 100% Democracy is just too fucking crazy to work because it gives too much power to the mob, which is ill-informed and all too ready to lynch scapegoats and create chaos.

Representative government -yes.

That being said, the Senate is tilted to the right by it's very structure. All the Liberals are in populous states and Repugs in small states who still get the same votes even though they have a tenth of the population. It's strikes me as very undemocratic.

[Honeycombe8]

19. Not true. That's one type of democracy. Republic is another type. There are different

kinds of democracies.

[Warren Stupidity]

25. You are using a rather limited definition and not the common usage

which makes your argument a bit dishonest. Start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democracy

You have substituted the narrow 'direct democracy' for the broad term 'democracy' in order to make your point.

[stevietheman]

29. The Constitution sets up a representative democracy.

So we're both a republic and a representative democracy.

[MissMarple]

10. We don't seem to have much representation.

[Ikonoklast]

18. We have the best money can buy.

[rockymountaindem]

4. I think this is a good thing

If nothing else people, or at least what political scientists might call "elite opinion shapers", have finally come to the realization that the Senate is gumming up the works instead of being a properly functioning part of our democracy. I don't think it needs to be radically reformed or abolished, just have the filibuster rules changed. Lowering them to 55 or 51 would help dramatically, and would only take a change in Senate rules at the beginning of a session.

And I wouldn't say nobody in the party gives a shit because Durbin is talking about reintroducing his legislation to do just that. Of course since it is legislation and not a rule change, it will probably be filibustered. But the first step to fixing your problem is realizing it exists, so at least we're approaching that point.

[DrToast]

6. Agree on Durbin. He's trying to shine light on the problem

I don't think he expect it to pass.

But we might be able to get a majority vote at the start of the next Congress, especially if the next year goes like the last one.

[Frances]

8. Thanks for posting this article

EJ Dione makes sense.

[alsame]

9. When 41 beats 59, something is wrong. Not to mention the

complete indifference to the desires of the majority of American people.

Representative democracy doesn't work well when the representatives don't work for us.

[LeftHandPath]

11. Public campaign financing and...

term limits for serving in Congress.

Being in Congress was never meant to be a career.

[Laelth]

12. k&r for the probable truth, however depressing. n/t

Kill the bill.

Forcing people to buy insurance is no more the answer to a failed health care system than forcing people to buy houses is the solution to homelessness.

:dem:

-Laelth

[ConservativeDemocrat]

16. OH BUT I THOUGHT...

...this was all Barack Obama's fault.
He's a traitor. Evil. Bush in disguise.

At least that's what I've learned reading the D.U. :crazy:

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[Moochy]

17. "Reality Based Community"

I thought we officially shut those down in 2008? It seems Bush's poisonous legacy of dishonest rhetoric lives on.

[Azathoth]

20. The Senate is an inherently anti-democratic institution

It was founded on the principle of protecting state sovereignty against the will of the majority for God's sake. It needs to go the way of Britain's House of Lords.

[donheld]

21. Of the Corporation, By the Corporation and For the Corporation

[Number23]

22. K&R Thanks for posting. Great read.

[burning rain]

23. Feel the audacity of WIN.

Good piece, and well spotted. :thumbsup:

[Warren Stupidity]

24. Exactly. K&R

[CTLawGuy]

26. agreed

pass the framework now. Make the public option a campaign issue for 2010, throw out the people opposed to the public option, and then insert one in later. You might even be able to use reconciliation to pass a PO by itself.

As to the filibuster, we won't be in the majority forever so one day we might find the filibuster useful again. However, it needs to be changed so that quorum rules are waived after a failed cloture vote and the filibusterers actually have to stand up and talk until there are no more speakers.

[Vidar]

27. K&R.

[stevietheman]

28. The U.S. has never had a "normal democracy".

Anyone who claims that we ever did have that hasn't taken a Civics class or have no practical knowledge of American history.

[treestar]

30. They do give a shit

I'm sick and tired of this crap. They just know what would happen in Republican administrations. They have recent experience with that.

Even the Republicans didn't have the "balls" to use the nuclear option, because they knew the same thing.

Imagine what would have been enacted in the Bush years. Or mainly, repealed. We need to wait until we have a more rational society before getting rid of these rules, one that does not have Republicans in it.