Partisanship and Filibusters

• “Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and virtuous citizens…that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority.”

- Federalist No. 10 (Alexander Hamilton)

There is nothing more dangerous to the safety of a democracy than when the rights of the minority are ignored by the majority. One of the things that most concerned our Founding Fathers was the ability of a single faction to take control of the government and use it to further their own goals, without due consideration for the public good.

Though I have generally supported many actions of the Republican majority in Congress, the so-called "nuclear option" that was being proposed in the Senate was extremely troubling to me. The mere possibility that the Senate would have adopted such a measure is a major cause for alarm. The filibuster safeguard is there for a reason, and while it can be a major obstacle to progress (see Strom Thurmond's legendary filibuster of Civil Rights legislation) it is an indispensable tool to help protect the minority.

While I think people deserve a vote, the limited use of such filibusters is sometimes the only way that the minority can protect its interests. I have yet to hear a really good argument for doing away with the filibuster, and I would love to hear from anyone who thinks they have one.