Filibusters enable minority rule

The minority is always right," or so wrote the author Henrik Ibsen in his 1882 play "An Enemy of the People." Ibsen better be correct because the U.S. Congress is steadily moving toward just that — rule by the minority.

The nation's founders correctly designed the Congress to respect and protect the rights of its voting minority. However, through the years the U.S. Senate has empowered its individual members with authority to preclude the will of the majority. In a perversion of America's brand of democracy, senators now use stall and delay to prevent the passage of legislation that is desired by a majority of Americans and, interestingly, a majority within the Congress itself.

There are valued reasons to safeguard the opinions of the few. However, from our beginnings as a nation, we have also placed primary significance on majority rule. A crucible of our brand of democracy is the will of the majority shall prevail.

For more than two decades, and most particularly during the past few years, our national legislators, intentionally or not, are moving toward the tyranny of the minority. We all recently witnessed a prime example when only 40 senators out of 100 almost prevented health care reform from even being debated on the Senate floor.

The Spanish word for pirate is filibuster. The Senate's filibuster process encourages minority rule by requiring 60 votes, or a two-thirds majority, to simply continue the consideration of legislation. The fate of health care reform in the U.S. Senate now faces that threat.

Once rarely used, filibusters have now reached a dangerous level. During the 1960s, no Senate term had more than seven filibusters. That amount more than tripled in the 1970s and 1980s. It doubled in the 1990s, and during this decade it has exploded, with more than 100 filibusters in each of the past several terms. Filibusters have become a perversion of the American promise of both majority rule and minority protection.

In the 100-member Senate, the obvious number of votes needed to pass legislation should be 51. But no, it is now the regular parliamentary order to require 60 votes to simply move to the regular process of debate and vote. With this significant advantage, the minority can easily prevent the will of the majority — not only within the Congress but also among our citizens.

What is causing our elected senators to succumb to this perversion? First is the enormous political power of major corporations and their astonishing ability to financially support or oppose campaigns (think insurance companies). Second is the potency of the loud, angry and determined minority (think "tea party" protesters).

Those two forces — money and anger — are, frankly, abetted by those Americans who have become cautious, silent, politically timid or uninterested. One begins to believe that only those on the fringes of our politics are now making law. What happened to the American right of the majority to decide?

Pat Williams served nine terms as a U.S. Representative from Montana. After his retirement, he returned to Montana and is teaching at The University of Montana.