Adventures in Wonderland

The Republicans now have enough Senate presence to stage a filibuster on any legislation that they don't like, which narrows down to virtually everything the Democrats put forward. And make no mistake, short of Democrats conceding to their every whim, that is most assuredly what will happen. They have already decided that rather than proposing any sort of functional policies--they had eight years and failed miserably, lest we forget, and after months of health care negotiations and concessions they still opposed the bill uniformly--they are simply going to make governing impossible in order to weaken Obama and the Democrats. And with Scott Brown they now have the means.

It bears repeating: The MINORITY PARTY now has a de facto veto on any legislation that doesn't meet their impossible standards. What bizarro universe are we living in?

The Democrats played a role in this travesty, of course, with their complacence and nominating a candidate that typified the East Coast Elite tag constantly slung their way. Lieberman should have been punished a year ago for attacking Obama during the campaign. The Democrats have a knack for snatching defeat from the jaws of defeat. And so on, and so forth.

What makes this all possible is the filibuster, a relatively recent introduction to the Senate which was intended for emergency use only and has instead resulted in restructuring the legislative process so that bills under consideration need 60 votes instead of a simple majority in order to pass. This is bad enough on its own, but when the minority party uses it as a bludgeon for getting its way, it perverts and undermines the very idea of majority rule. There are too many important problems that need attention to have to worry about placating this absurdity. And so on, and so forth.

Fuck.

End rant.