Portrait, Robert Reich, 08/16/09. (photo: Perian Flaherty)
11 July 13
efore
January 2009, the filibuster was used only for measures and nominations
on which the minority party in the Senate had their strongest
objections. Since then, Senate Republicans have filibustered almost
everything, betting that voters will blame Democrats for the dysfunction
in Congress as much as they blame the GOP.
So far the bet is paying off because the press has
failed to call out the GOP - which is now preventing votes on the
President's choices for three D.C. Circuit Court nominees, the Labor
Department and the EPA, the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau, and the
National Labor Relations Board. (The GOP has blocked all labor board
nominees, some to whom the President gave recess appointments, but he's
now asking approval for all.)
The GOP has already violated hundreds of years of
Senate precedent by filibustering the nomination of a Cabinet secretary,
Chuck Hagel for Secretary of Defense, and using the filibuster to delay
John Brennan's nomination as CIA Director.
Harry Reid may now be able to summon 51 votes to
abolish the filibuster, at least for cabinet officials and other
high-level policy makers. But that shouldn't be considered a victory.
It's a sad commentary on where we've come to.
When I was in the cabinet I worked closely with
several great Republican senators, such as Mark Hatfield of Oregon and
Nancy Kassebaum of Kansas, who were willing to compromise, and who cared
more about preserving the institutions of government than getting their
way. Even Orren Hatch and John McCain in those days were more concerned
about the institutional integrity of the U.S. government than about any
particular policy difference they may have had with the other side.
But the new breed - Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Mike Lee,
Sam Brownback, Jeff Sessions, David Vitter, to name a few - don't give a
rat's ass about how or whether our government functions. In fact, they
give every indication that they'd rather it didn't.
I can't help wondering why is it that Republicans
who do want our governing institutions and processes to remain strong
don't stand up to the fanatics? What happened to Hatch and McCain, or to
Lamar Alexander, Susan Collins, and Lindsay Graham? Are they so
frightened of losing to a fanatic in the next primary that they've been
silenced into submission? Why don't former Republican senators who lost
to the fanatics, such as Indiana's Richard Lugar, speak up?
As has been noted many times in history, it is not
so much the viciousness or carelessness of the bad people but the
silence of the good people that brings societies to the brink, or
beyond.
Robert B. Reich, Chancellor's Professor of Public
Policy at the University of California at Berkeley, was Secretary of
Labor in the Clinton administration. Time Magazine named him one of the
ten most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has
written thirteen books, including the best sellers "Aftershock" and "The
Work of Nations." His latest is an e-book, "Beyond Outrage." He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause.
No comments:
Post a Comment