Monday, May 02, 2005

Bust the Filibuster

Historian Julian Zelizer has a nice op-ed pointing out the insanity of the filibuster and why it should be abolished not just for judicial nominations, but lock, stock, and barrel. I agree. Bush's judicial nominees are appalling but I think the U.S. would be better served in the long run by removing archaic and undemocratic features like the filibuster. Heck, if it were up to me, I'd get rid of the whole Senate. Any institution that gives Alaska the same representation as California has serious problems. The filibuster only makes matters worse. In fact, 42 Senators from the 21 smallest states make up just over 11 percent of the population, yet they could veto legislation favored by the other 89 percent. That's almost as silly as letting 5 unelected judges decide what 290,000,000 Americans can do.

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