One of the lessons from my college years was a principle derived from Robert MacIver's book: The Web of Government.
Government exists to serve the needs of the people.
At this point, I confess that I do not recall whether this conclusion was articulated in the book, or at the end of a path to which the book led me. The principle seems reasonable if not obvious.
Recently, the Republican leadership in the Senate made it clear that it was willing to use its block of 41 Republican Senators to block progress in healthcare reform. The Republican leadership was not willing to do anything but "start over" going "step by step." Any other approach was unacceptable, including:
Starting with the points on which the Republicans agree with the Democrats,
Proposing amendments to the existing legislation,
Forwarding a Republican bill for consideration.
Senator Mitch McConnell insisted that we must start over with a blank piece of paper.
I expressed some dismay that this is the posture in which we find ourselves after a year of hard work by all involved. This call to "start over" comes after more than 70 years of hard work by numerous Congresses and Presidents. This blank piece of paper is all we have to show for over 450 Congressional hearings. Insisting that we "start over" throws all the hard work into the wastebasket.
(See Links to information about the 451 hearings here. )
The Senate became even more absurd when Kentucky Senator James Bunning insisted on blocking extension of unemployment benefits all by himself. One senator. One lone senator. A filibuster of one. How is this possible? How can it be that 59 of 100 Senators cannot vote to provide healthcare for Americans? How can it be that one lone senator can deprive millions of Americans of what they need to survive?
The Constitution provides that each house of Congress may "determine the Rules of its Proceedings." (See Article I Section 3 and Article I Section 5. Additional sources of information: 1 2 3)
When the Senate rules allow one, count 'em one, Kentucky Senator James Bunning the ability to singlehandedly block extension of unemployment benefits and knock thousands of Americans out of work, the rules need to be changed.
The principle is:
Government exists to serve the needs of the people.
Since the Senate rules prevent the Senate
from serving the needs of the people,
the rules must be changed.
How can we accomplish that?
What do you think?
Let me hear from you.
