For those who paid attention to Senator Scott Brown (R-Mass.) becoming the infamous "number 41," the implications are all too clear.
The Senate passed Obamacare on Christmas Eve in 2009 only because there were exactly 60 votes to stop a Republican filibuster. Brown's election weeks later dropped Democratic control to 59 and virtually stopped them cold. Democrats are now expecting to lose the House in November and keep the Senate only with a slim majority.
The folks who run Daily Kos, apparently thinking 49 Republican votes should not matter, are trying to change the rules to make it easier for Democratic agendas to sail through. Behold the thought process of today's Machiavellian liberals who will do absolutely anything to get their way (h/t NBer choselife3x):
Today we're launching a campaign to end the filibuster. Join this campaign by clicking the link below and signing the petition that appears:
[...]
We'll deliver the petition to every Democratic nominee for Senate and every returning Democratic Senator. When we do, we'll get them on record about whether they agree that the rules of the Senate can, and should, be changed with a simple majority vote on the first day of Congress next year.
Once 51 returning and potential Senators have come out in support, we'll have proven that changing Senate rules is possible with a simple majority vote.
Sign the petition, prove change is possible!
There's no bigger decision Senate Democrats will make next year. The Senate is where good legislation goes to die. Democrats can either change a system that allows a tiny unaccountable minority to thwart the will of the country, or they can continue being part of the problem.
So even though Republican Senators ostensibly represent 41 percent of America now, and are predicted to represent even more states in 2011, the Daily Kos calls them "a tiny unaccountable minority." And even though the majority of Americans repeatedly tell pollsters they reject Democratic agendas, it's Republicans who "thwart the will of the country."
On each of those issues, the Daily Kos came down on the side against the will of most Americans. And now the plan is to make it even easier to ram things down Americans' throats. Democrats will presumably be able to squeak into the Senate with a bare 51 votes and then pass whatever they want even when the public loudly protests.
The filibuster has been an important part of Congress since the very beginning of this country. Film director Frank Capra used the procedure in the iconic 1939 movie "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," proudly displaying the means by which a minority can protect itself from a bullying, overconfident majority. Ending the filibuster would be a drastic departure from our nation's founding and a radical change in the meaning of representation.
As of this writing, Daily Kos is not displaying the petition on its front page. Yet one Kos member by the name of garscosi posted this rather embarrassing diary pleading with the website's owners to reconsider, followed by a slew of comments in agreement.
For a website that habitually trumps up popularity for unpopular ideas, it's just so fitting.
