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Maybe you've heard about this jagoff of a U.S. Senator from Alabama who has abused Senate protocol rules to put a blanket hold on all of President Obama's nominees until he extorts some public funds for projects in his state. This isn't traditional legislative logrolling for the purpose of maximizing the bacon one brings back for the hometown crowd, which happens within routine lawmaking practice. It's the exercise of a secret active veto over pretty much any Senate activity by a single bad actor.I haven't read the stories about this closely enough to know how the obstructionist's secret identity was revealed, but my understanding is that, at the very least, the Senate Majority Leader by definition must know who has placed the hold... and that it's considered not very gentlemanly for the Majority Leader to "out" that person.
So not only do Democrats feel they can't control the legislative agenda without a Senate supermajority (i.e., 60 votes as needed to overcome the threat of a filibuster). They don't even feel they can act on a routine presidential nomination if a single member of the club decides against it... because holding that member publically accountable would seem impolite.
All of the above, while not unique or profound observation, I present as background for a couple of Paul Krugman blog posts wherein he describes the abuse of the nobility's liberum veto in 17th century Poland. This familiar-sounding political dysfunction greatly contributed to the collapse, breakup, and annexation of that country, by its neighbors, at the dawn of The Enlightenment elsewhere in Europe.
So the bad news is that America seems to be swirling helplessly around the drain that empties into the septic tank of feudalism. (Think of nobility such as the Duke of CitiCorp, the Prince of General Electric, and the Archbishop of Viacom.) The jury is still out on any good news this may portend.
Poland was a doormat destroyed by calvary and tank tracks. Their anthem has a line that says something about "we are not yet defeated" (after being hit on the head about 100,000 times) which seems more akin to whisteling from the graveyard about 6-ft down.
ReplyDeleteThe Senate is supposed to be the more deliberative body where the hot beverage of legislation and the people's biz-ness is poured from cup to saucer to cool....hopefully not to completely curdle, go rancid, or evaporate entirely.
Anon: geographically speaking, Poland had a very unfortunate location in a 20th century world where the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany were the two 800 lb, ebola-infected gorillas in regional geopolitics. I wonder to what extent Poland's 20th century fate might be attributed to a historically weak central government. But I'm a Simple Country Editor, not a historian (even though my diploma says I'm one).
ReplyDeleteyes, country ed-- pretty much any large scale disaster (including some Acts of Gods like recently in Haiti) can be traced in some way, if not a result of weak, disorganized, failed government (leadership). The founders might have included a Senate to act as a brake on progress or excess or democracy, whatever, but it's become a gremlin in the engine room and needs to be destroyed/removed.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, like all oversized, overpowered parasites, it is going to kill the host first.