16 March, 2013

George Orwell on the Filibuster

George Orwell on the Filibuster: Regarding today's Politico stor:
  • It takes 51 votes to "pass the Senate."
  • It takes 60 votes to break a filibuster.
  • Through the past six-plus years, the GOP minority-power strategy in the Senate has deliberately aimed to make the filibuster, historically a rarity, seem routine and acceptable. Every news account that presents the super-majority 60-vote threshold as the "necessary bar" for Senate passage, and a majority of 55 votes as "certain defeat," ratifies this strategy. Especially in an "informed" insider political-specialist publication.