A Lot to Say in Defense of the Filibuster
Re “Filibuster Doubletalk,” Commentary, April 6: On March 30, columnist and Editorial Page Editor Andres Martinez likened the powerful tobacco industry to detainees at Guantanamo Bay. On April 6, he claims the NAACP’s campaign to encourage a filibuster against the GOP-controlled Senate is akin to the civil rights group “encouraging Southern pride in the Confederate flag.”
Recently, Martinez defended airlines overcome with outrageous customer expectations.
The overstatement and lack of proportion Martinez shows in his columns reveal a dangerous tendency for a man who controls the editorial position of the second-largest daily newspaper in the U.S. and L.A.’s only real newspaper. What Martinez and his law school training appear not to account for is the real-life imbalance of power between rich and poor, have and have-not, powerful and overcome in America today.
The Times editorial page has consistently stood for the proposition that the have-nots deserve more power to challenge and hold accountable the haves. I fear that position will change under Martinez. He should choose between his column, where he can speak, and his position running the editorial page, where he needs to listen more.
Jamie Court
Presiden, Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights
Santa Monica
*
Martinez has apparently forgotten that the parties have switched places in the last 40 years. Today’s Republicans are dominated by yesterday’s Dixiecrats and their descendants. Now that they are in power, they seek to abolish a tool they did not hesitate to use when they were in the minority. They are the hypocrites, not the Democrats.
Nor is the filibuster anti-democratic in this case. Through lifetime appointments of judges, President Bush seeks to convert a four-year mandate based largely on security concerns into a permanent victory over religious and reproductive freedoms that a majority of Americans support. The filibuster is the last line of defense against this abuse of power.
Larry Nathenson
Los Angeles
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
