ILLOGICAL POLITICS OF CLOTURE

There is something obvious that we have overlooked in our attempts to understand the logic of Senate rules.  Everyone seems to know on the first day of a new session Senators establish the operational rules. For example, the controversial rules of cloture, the rule that requires a 60 vote or a super majority, are established on that day. This is the rule that gives the minority party power. Reid was fearful that if the Democrats were to eliminate that provision the Republicans would reciprocate if they took over the majority in the future; thus, destroy any possibility of a minority of Democratic senators of having any say in the governance of this country. This is a real worry.

First, the Hagel nomination fiasco has proved once again that dealing with Republicans, Mitch McConnell to be exact, on a handshake deal is not the thing to do. Democrats cannot trust them to be honorable when it comes to dominance. The selfishness or greed for power is innate; it trumps everything else including morality, trustworthiness, honesty, etc. I truly believe conservatives cannot help themselves; they are what they are.  Even a slim majority is translated into dictatorial political “leverage”, such as George W. Bush’s marginal and controversial presidential election was taken as a mandate to Privatize Social Security”, for example. I can clearly remember him standing behind a microphone after his reelection by a razor thin victor and saying that. That attitude not only comes forth in the highest office it happens in every office. I have watched how numerous Republican controlled committees work. Right-wingers take a one-vote majority to mean the minority does not count—perhaps you will better recognize it if I write, “Will not compromise” with reference the current House of Representatives.

The objective of this blog post is to point out that if the Republicans are in the majority in the Senate, they will be dictators regardless of how Reid and the Democrats treat them. Given the majority, no matter how slim, they would overturn the rules of the Senate in a heartbeat to fit their temperament. To expect them to reciprocate with kindness if Democrats treat them kindly is folly; they never have and they never will. When they have the major, they will change the cloture rules in a way that will prevent a Democrats minority from having any power whatsoever. I have never known a Republican that would not do that and I never expect to deal with one who would act otherwise—it is like trying to make a pet out of a rattlesnake.  Reid has made a huge mistake in thinking he is establishing a tradition of fairness in the Senate by giving in to their demands. He is a poor majority leader because he is from a swing State and is susceptible to being “primaried” but also it was in his nature to trust a conservative on a handshake deal. I should add that Reid is a Democrat, which means that it is innate for him to try to be fair, compromise, and even give away the power of his majority—of course the Republicans will take it. Politics is in our genes, which is why there are more Democrats than there are Republicans, yet Republicans run the show. Logical, no, but that is the way it is.