Zell Miller wants to dump the filibuster

Zell Miller has an interesting post over a Free Republic in which he is proposing doing away with the 60 votes necessary to break a filibuster in the Senate. In his post, Senator Miller trots out all the usual arguments against allowing for filibusters. Every time I see these arguments, I keep having to remind myself that there is a reason for the filibuster.

Senator Miller points out correctly that only in the Senate can a 41 vote minority stop a 59 vote majority. And there is a legitimate reason for that.

The 60 votes needed for cloture were put in place to protect the minority. When our nation was founded and the Constitution was written, the Founding Fathers wanted to make sure that there was protection in place for the minority. There was a fear (well founded at the time) that a simple majority would allow the party in power to effectively outlaw the minorities. In the House, directly elected by the people, a simple majority rules. But the Senate, which originally was chosen by the State Legislatures, was supposed to be the more dignified and more deliberative body. I believe the concept of "advise and consent" went beyond just on nominations. I believe that it also extended to reigning in the sometimes extreme views of the rabble in the House. The Senate was supposed to help to weed out bad bills and to help neaten up the good ones before they were sent to the President for signing.

The Constitution is actually designed to set up a minimalist Federal government. The 60 votes for cloture was designed to give the minority a chance to stop unnecessary bills from being passed. It is also to give the minority the ability to demand a rewrite of a bill to make it more acceptable. The 60 vote majority is not needed to pass every bill or motion, just the less palatable or more controversial ones.

The biggest problem we have today is not the filibuster, but its unintended use by the opposition. The filibuster was not designed to be a tool of blatant partisanship. It was designed as a tool of ensuring our Congress stuck to the ideals of the Constitution. We don't need to reform or eliminate the filibuster, we need to reform or eliminate the people who abuse it. You want things to change? Vote for candidates who will use the filibuster responsibly.