Letters: The filibuster has had its day

Re “Minority rule in the Senate,” Opinion, Dec. 1

Joyce Appleby would eliminate the filibuster, arguing that the Founding Fathers, having entrenched an inequality of representation in the Senate, certainly did not want to deviate further from majority rule. She refers to James Madison’s opinion that requiring a supermajority would reverse the fundamental principle of free government.

During the debates over the Constitution and the question of a Bill of Rights, however, Madison argued differently. He said that the people themselves, acting through their representatives, were the chief danger to liberty because the legislators would act in response to the passions and interests of their constituents. Minorities and individuals needed protection against popular majorities acting through government.

I agree that the filibuster has become destructive, that it should at the least be reformed and that the “invisible filibuster” should be eliminated.

Perhaps the filibuster itself should also go, but only if some mechanism is in place to protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority.

Bernard Springer

Encino

Appleby’s argument that “democratic governance demands … adherence to the essential democratic principle of majority will that gives citizens confidence that their votes matter” also applies to the House’s “Hastert Rule.”

The Hastert Rule dictates that only bills with the majority support of the majority party are brought up for a vote. Allowing all legislation to be put to a vote, whether or not it is supported by a majority of the party then in control, is no less essential than abolishing the filibuster.

As Appleby concluded, “Disarming the protagonists will limit their damage to the good governing we so badly need.”

Floyd J. Siegal

Calabasas

The Constitution already protects differences. For example, the 38 million residents of California are represented in Congress by two senators. Likewise, states with populations of fewer than 1 million, such as Alaska and Wyoming, also have two senators each.

Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that it takes a supermajority vote of senators to conduct business.

Richard Dickinson

Richmond Hill, Ga.

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