We all (should) know that Ezra Klein has been all over the filibuster like … well … Ezra Klein on health care. Today he posted his remarks to be (that already were) made on C-SPAN 2. What, don’t you watch C-SPAN 2 in the middle of a Friday before Labor Day? No, me neither, and I never will. Instead, go read Klein. Here’s a taste:
We have rules, as everyone agrees, set up to encourage bipartisan cooperation. But the system gives the minority party both the incentive to see the majority fail, as that’s how they win the next election, and the power to make them fail. So we have rules for a bipartisan world — but we live in a partisan world. As Ron Brownstein likes to say, we’ve got parliamentary politics clashing with supermajoritarian rules. I’m not sure that really works. …
[I]f the system leads inexorably to abuse, then it’s not a good system. I might prefer a world where the filibuster protects debate and ensures bipartisan outcomes, but I don’t think we should pretend that’s the world we have. The choice is between electorally driven gridlock and something else. I’d like something else.
