I am curious what folks at this forum think about the filibuster.
Do you think it makes the Senate more democratic due to the structure of that body? Or do you think it actually just increases the power of special interests? Also do you think it makes government more efficent and accountable or that is just locks in the status quo?
Do you think it creates more bipartisanship or is that something that bicameralism is better at?
It allows for minority rule when the parties are committed to not work together.
I'd like to see it done away with.
I hate it. It used to be that the filibuster was not really an effective tool, and it was rarely used. Now Republicans are using more than any point in history.
I don't really care who is using it. If it's being used, there's a minority steering a majority somewhere.
I think it is is form of blackmail. It should be forbidden, because it is anti-democratic.
Its ridiculous that something so childish and obviously counterproductive is allowed to go on within our government. Hoepfully it will be done away with soon. The bean counters are incompetent and impotent enough as it is, they don't need any help.
It happens in Westminster as well, though as with most things, our filibuster's are a more restrained affair. Are they undemocratic, I would say yes. Is the house in a normal sitting that democratic anyway? Not really.
A government can push through a bill in most circumstances anyway, anything that stymies the endless reams of terribly drafted, ineffective and reactionary legislation that pours out of the Commons is a good thing in my book.
When it was originally implemented we didn't have cars and things like that. I can see how they could have originally found it helpful in that you knew 5 more people from your side were on their way and you just had to stall the vote long enough for them to arrive. This was also back when parties seemed to be better at actually discussing topics rationally so it might have actually been helpful at some point. Why it had to be someone standing and talking about nothing in particular for hours on end is a mystery to me...it would be much more mature to be allowed to say "not everyone is here, I would like to be granted my one yearly request for a 24 hour recess"
But I think that it is useless in our times especially when abused and it is time to remove it from the process.
I think the idea of the filibuster is good. It allows for the minority party to hold some feasible amount of power by preventing the majority from dictating discussion and bill amendments. But when you can filibuster by reading from a telephone directory, or from Ariana Huffington's book (as was just done a few days ago) that's just pathetic.
It's undemocratic. It allows Republicans to protect special interests. We need to get rid of it somehow.
I would think that atheists in the US would be all for mechanisms that give power to the minority.
It's a good idea that's almost never used for good.