Remeber the old days? Senators from the south who wanted to block civil rights legislation had to actually stand up in the well of the Senate and "talk a bill to death". The spectacle of Senators reading aloud from various texts just to pass the time while other Senators were on hold waiting for the opportunity to vote may have seemed ridiculous, but it had one major virtue: It was too physically difficult to do on a regular basis. As a result, it was only rarely used. The rest of time, the Senate passed legislation according to the will of the majority.
Today, every time the Republican minority wants to hold up legislation, it merely fills out a form. Consequently, the will of only 40 Senators can block the will of the American people.
The filibuster is not a creation of the Constitution and it certainly was not contemplated by the Founders. There is no mention of it in the Federalist Papers. At no time during the Constitutional convention was it discussed. It is merely the by-product of the courtesy Senators have always shown each other in refusing to limit the time allotted to each Senator while having the floor.
The time has come to rethink the Senate filibuster rule. The Republican minority now routinely violates the will of the American people by killing legislation that has the support of a majority of Senators.
What makes this so especially galling is the Republicans are so fond of talking about original intent and the sacred text of the Constitution. Once again, they are demonstrating how hypocritical they relly are.
The Democratic Senators owe it to the American people to return to old rules. Filibusters should require the party in oposition to demonstrate their defiance in the physically difficult manner of standing up in the well of the Senate for hours on end . At least that way, the system would work like a democracy.