Just take a second and drop an email to Senators Boxer and Feinstein. Let them know that the filibuster is undemocratic because the minority are tyrannizing over the majority – the same majoritarian rule that lies at the heart of American government. Watch Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to see how a filibuster used to be done and ought to be done. I’d like to see our California senators taking turns doing the same thing – then I would be silent!
If “majoritarian rule… lies at the heart of American government,” why are there so many anti-majoritarian provisions in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights? The brilliance of our founding documents is that they recognize and foster the tension between progressivism and conservatism, between populism and meritocracy.
Yes, the Constitution does have checks to the majoritarian government – the masses certainly do not always make the best decisions!
The matter of the current filibuster, however, is distinctly unconstitutional. The filibuster used to involve a congressman holding the floor for as long as they could stand. Now the whole function of the legislative branch can be ground to a halt simply by signing a piece of paper.
“Undemocratic” is one complaint; “unconstitutional” is entirely another. (One wonders, if this is truly the case, why it’s been carried out by both parties for so long.) I’m curious as to which provision of the Constitution you refer.