The Most Asinine thing I've Seen in American Politics (thus far)

The Most Asinine thing 

I've Seen in American Politics

(thus far)

An Op-Ed by The Mouth

"My master, The Great Jacobin, bids thee welcome" 

Backstory: The Senate, the Minority, and the Filibuster. 

The U.S. Senate was formed under the New Jersey Plan during the forming of the Constitution. It was thought that a legislative body formed on equality would benefit the smaller states who could not dominate the House of Representatives with their population. But our Founding Fathers, in all their divine wisdom, put in a fail-safe system to work toward the benefit of the minority - The Filibuster. Now, I'm not sure if this is built into the Constitution somehow, I'm pretty sure it is.  Regardless, the Filibuster is derived from two Standing Rules of the United States' Senate. The first is that a Senator may hold the floor until he or she is finished speaking. The second is that the only way to invoke Cloture, or a final vote on a bill, is with a 3/5th majority. This is known as Rule 22, and it was enacted during the Wilson Presidency (although it was 2/3rd back then, and changed in the 1970s). This is why you see bills being defeated 58-42 all the time. This is because cloture could not be invoked and it is still up for debate on the floor. A simple majority is still needed to pass a bill with 51 votes. But due to procedure, the debate over a bill cannot conclude until every Senator has spoke as long as they wished or through invoking cloture. Common past tactics for filibustering include reading the Constitution, the phone book, every state's election laws, famous presidential speeches and Shakespeare. Interesting factoid: The longest one-person filibuster lasted 24 hours and 18 minutes by Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-SC) against the 1957 Civil Rights Act, which was in vain since it passed and was signed into law by President Eisenhower. So there you have it. That is the story of the Senate, the Minority and the Filibuster. 

Fast forward to Present time!

With all this recent discussion about filibuster reform in the next Congress and Republicans using the Filibuster more in the last 2 Congresses than in the 60s, 70s, and 80s combined, I think we should talk about how Obstructionism is the popular tactic of Republicans. Obstructionism is the practice of deliberately impeding or delaying the course of legal, legislative, or other procedures, (according to my OSX dictionary) also known as being counter-productive . Although, Democrats may be considered even worse since because they have previously just taken Republicans' word for it, and now want to make them ACTUALLY filibuster. I personally think this is the best route to go, although I'm pissed that they didn't do it before. Filibuster reform is a double edged sword, since it would benefit the current Democratic majority in the Senate, but may hurt them in the future when they are Senate Minority. 

Sen. Mitch McConnell and the Debt Ceiling

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had previously thrown out the idea of a "perpetual debt ceiling" controlled by the President during the 2011 Debt Ceiling Crisis. Even former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan thinks it's a good idea, saying that in this age of information having a Debt Ceiling is like wearing a belt and suspenders. You can read TPJ's last blog post about the Debt Ceiling being an invalid option for the GOP in Fiscal Cliff talks or if you want to just know what the Debt Ceiling is then, click here. Either way, the idea of the perpetual debt ceiling using Amendment 14, Section 4 of the Constitution has since been adopted by Democratic Ideology  as the most effective way to deal with the Debt Ceiling. 

AND NOW, the Most Asinine thing I've Seen in American Politics (thus far)

Look, I became "Politically Aware" during G.W. Bush's first Presidential Term and I remember this of course.  But since I received "Activist" status over 5 years ago, this takes the cake for the dumbest shit I've ever read. Sen. McConnell recently introduced a bill and called for an immediate vote, as a stunt, that would give the President unilateral power over a perpetual debt ceiling. These stunts are used to show how incredibly partisan and uncompromising the other party is being. This immediately backfired in his stupid Republican face, when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid agreed and called for a vote on the bill. He then asked that a supermajority (60 votes) be required for it's passage, effectively filibustering the very same bill he introduced a mere minute ago.  This is a history low point for the Senate and I'm not the only one to think this is 'idiotic.' And if you watch the video, you can see presiding officer Sen. Claire McCaskill be absolutely stunned at what she saw as well, commenting, she "got whiplash." This is now becoming the posterchild for filibuster reform, way to go Mitch. You're a fucking moron.  

I hope you all enjoy my first op-ed! -The Mouth