The Senate Is Broken. Let's Fix It

As many of you are aware by now, in the last few years the United States Congress has evolved into an institution which now requires a supermajority to conduct any sort of business at all. This has had a disastrous effect on the nature of our governance, and it couldn't have come at a worse time.

I'm talking, of course, about the filibuster, which Republicans have used on virtually every single piece of legislation which the Democrats have proposed, with the exception of important resolutions like the one reaffirming jazz as a national treasure.

There has now been some serious talk about abolishing the filibuster rule, which can be done by a simple majority only on the first day of a session of Congress. But this is, currently, unlikely to happen. Every Republican, obviously, will vote against it. Not only does it serve their crass political interests, which put the interests of the party ahead of the national interest, but it serves their conservative ideology as well. The filibuster is the ultimate weapon in the conservative legislative arsenal; a procedure which shuts down Congress is perfect for an ideology that fights change.

And the Democrats may not get 51 votes to do it either, because, frankly, there are a lot of Blue Dog Dems out their who have been bought and paid for by the banks or the military industrial complex, or health insurance companies, (just as the Republicans have) and who love having a filibuster around, as it keeps them from having to do their job and actually vote on something.

But it's something that needs to get done. The world is changing rapidly around us, and we've learned a lot in the last few years. Now is the time to change some of our laws to reflect that knowledge, but we can't do it because we have a Senate that no longer functions.

Let's change this. It's time to call or email your Senator and tell them to "End the Filibuster." Three words. You can find your Senator's info right here. Do it! Do it now!Share this with someone else who will do it!

Let's get our Congress back to work, so we can get our nation back to work.