Dwain Northey (Gen X)

As promised let’s talk about the Senate, the other part of the legislative branch. Unlike the House of Representatives which has a little more proportional representation to the population of their State the Senate has 2 members per state which realistically makes the proportions vastly unequal. I say that because a state like Wyoming has population of 585,587 their population allows them 1 house seats and 2 senate seats now California has a population of 39,029,342 with 53 house seats and 2 senate seats. Can you see how proportional representation in the Senate is vastly undemocratic in nature? Alaska has more Moose than people still has 2 senators. This is skewed because higher population centers (cities) tend to lean more democratic whereas rural farm areas with smaller populations lean more conservative and republican. In this WY/CA comparison that gives WY 6.66 to 1 representation in the Senate. If you’re superstitious that is an evil comparison.

The other difference between the House and the Senate is that Senators are elected to 6-year terms unlike the House Members 2-year terms. The first proposal, from Virginians Edmund Randolph and James Madison, called for seven-year Senate terms. Citing Maryland’s system, Randolph and Madison argued that a long term would create stability in the Senate and provide an effective check on the more democratic House of Representatives. In the United States Senate all states are represented equally. Regardless of size or population, each state has two senators, who serve six-year terms. Unlike the House of Representatives, where all members must stand for election every two years, only one-third of the Senate’s seats are filled with each general election. Longer, overlapping Senate terms provide Congress with stability and continuity, and lessen the immediate pressure of public opinion on members of the Senate. Until the 1913 ratification of the Constitution’s 17th Amendment, Senators were elected by the legislatures of their respective states making it an undemocratic body.

Now that we know a little more about the Senate let’s get into a procedure that has been used by both parties but more by the Republicans and more frequently in to past 20 years, the Filibuster. In 1789, the first U.S. Senate adopted rules that did not provide for a cloture mechanism, which opened the door to filibusters. Indeed, a filibuster took place at the very first session of the Senate. The Senate tradition of unlimited debate has allowed for the use of the filibuster, a loosely defined term for action designed to prolong debate and delay or prevent a vote on a bill, resolution, amendment, or other debatable question. Originally this stall tactic required that the senator that was filibustering a bill had to hold the floor speaking continuously and when they stopped the bill could come to a cloture, a procedure for ending a debate, and taking a vote. Today, senators can merely signal their intent to object, even privately, and that’s enough for Senate leaders to take action. Leaders sometimes just drop the issue from floor consideration. At other times, they push ahead, taking cumbersome steps to cut off the filibuster and move forward with the proceedings. In order for a bill to break the filibuster there must be 60 votes which in today’s very partisan climate is nearly impossible. Harry Reid had to change the rule for appellate court appointments during the Obama administration because Senate republicans would not allow any judicial appoints to go through. Subsequently Mitch McConnel changed the rule to include Supreme Court appointments to a simple majority allowing Trump to appoint 3 Justices to the High Court.

The filibuster is not in the constitution and is only a sad tradition that has long exceeded its usefulness. Historically the procedure had only been used to block any civil rights legislation that was until Mitch McConnell devised a way to weaponize the practice when the Republicans had a Senate Minority.

Just one more thing that makes the Senate a undemocratic body.