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Filibuster folly
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Ezra Klein's Nov. 9 column "Get Rid of the Filibuster" is a call to sanity. The subhead is "The Time May Be Right to Liberate the Senate." Let's hope he is correct.
The filibuster is an impediment to passing legislation that is good for our country, whether Democratic or Republican initiatives. This is no time for half measures. Let's abolish it right away and establish passage by a simple majority of 50 votes.
Mr. Klein says, "Republicans might want to think about getting on the train ... If the filibuster ends now, there's a real chance the first party to benefit from a reformed Washington would be the Republicans. That should be a change they can believe in."
And I have to ask, would it alter their obstructive tendencies? Would it contribute to bipartisanship?
Jacob Hacker and Nate Loewentheil of Yale University in their paper "Prosperity Economics: Building an Economy for All" cite the elimination of the filibuster as essential to the reform of our democracy. Every senator should read it as well as Ezra Klein's column.
CORNELIA SMOLLIN
Whitehall
First Published November 16, 2012 12:00 am
