Here, in one image posted by Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell after gun safety amendments failed Wednesday, is what is wrong with the U.S. Senate.
This isn't about governing for McConnell, or the Republicans he leads. It's about beating Harry Reid and President Obama. It isn't about what the
the vast majority of the American public demands that its government do, or what the actual majority of the Senate wants. It's about beating Democrats, no matter what.
It doesn't have to be that way. If real filibuster reform had happened in January, Mitch McConnell and his merry band of nihilists would have had to stand on the Senate floor and talk for hours about why they were thwarting the will of the people, why they were thumbing their noses right in the faces of still-grieving Newtown families. If real filibuster reform had happened in January, the majority will of the people would have had at least a chance at prevailing in the Senate.
But the absence of real filibuster reform made this vote almost painless for the obstructors, and Mitch McConnell gloats. Maybe that gloating will be enough for some balky Democrats to finally act and allow a simple majority vote to make the Republicans actually have to work for their filibusters.
Please send an email to your Democratic senator(s) telling them to re-open filibuster reform so that we can have a functioning Senate.