Today, the day before the Republicans are set to meet with the President, Harry Reid is threatening to use “reconciliation” on the health care bill. Breitbart.tv has a compilation video up from the 2005 protests of the Republican threat to use the Nuclear Option for judicial nominees.
I agreed with the Democrats and many others then (I hate to admit) that Republicans were reaching too far. And, the 2006 election, in part, proved it. But, you would think that Democrats would have learned from the GOP mistake. Nevertheless, what they said in the clip is and always will be true: then Senate was created to be different from the House.
One of my favorite blogs, WhoisJohnGalt has this to say about Majority Rule:
People with an IQ over 150 are a small minority, but I’m far more interested in their ideas. Business owners are a small minority, but they’re still the ones we depend on for jobs, and the ones with the best incentives for keeping their own business afloat.
The United States was (were, really) never intended to be a democracy. Yes, the founders recognized the significance of a majority — that’s why they created the House of Representatives. But it’s a complete misunderstanding of our government to believe that the Senate should therefore be ruled by a majority.
Read the whole post. It reminds me of the many arguments I had in UW PoliSci classes where I was always the vocal minority in the room. My favorite way to end most of these arguments was to ask my foe, “Have you ever actually read the Constitution?” That would usually shut them up.