I cringe every time I hear 'the voting was along party lines,' because it means we don't have 100 senators... we have 2 senators, and one is bigger than the other. This doesn't encourage debate - it just means whoever is bigger wins. The filibuster allows the smaller guy to still have SOME power, but more on that later.

Our election process practically guarantees that there will be no serious attempts by elected officials to work with the opposing party. During primaries, moderate candidates are pushed aside in favor of the most extreme candidates. When the actual election is held, the two candidates for the major parties are absolutely unacceptable to the opposing party. Third-party candidates cannot win, so any vote for them is one less vote for your favorite major-party candidate. So again, we don't have thousands or millions of voters... just two of different sizes. There is no debate, no working together, no compromise.

Enter the filibuster - the only way for the minority party to get a word in edge-wise. Using the filibuster, a minority senator can force compromise. Even then though, I do not see any serious attempt at solving problems. The minority party simply filibusters, demanding changes until the measure has been damaged beyond usefulness. Then it may finally be put to a vote. At this point it will probably be rejected for being useless, due to the damage done by the opposing party. If it does pass, it will simply be a rallying point for the opposition: Look at the terrible bill that our opponents passed!

The result: an inability to resolve any serious problems. A number of bills which do pass, that are likely to cause more problems than they solve.

I don't know how to fix this dysfunctional system. Even if I did know the best way to solve it, the odds of getting it passed intact by the current system are negligible.

Our current system encourages the most extreme partisan politics. The public good SHOULD be the most important factor for all elected officials. When there is a problem, I want them ALL to work together to find the best solution, while keeping the law and the values of their constituents in mind. I want my representative to stand up for what I believe in, but I would prefer he do so by actively participating in the writing of bills, rather than by simply blocking any that he doesn't agree with.

-- calin