04/25/05

[I]f Frist succeeds it will only be a matter of time before the filibuster is eliminated for legislation, too. I'm all for it. What I can't figure out is why the Christian right is for it, too. ... Support for the filibuster, remember, is premised on the idea that the government shouldn't be susceptible to the tyranny of the majority. But I find very little evidence to support the idea that majority opinion in the United States is particularly tyrannical. The real problem in American politics, if you ask me, is the tyranny of the minority -- or rather, of a variety of different minorities, known collectively as interest groups, which use a variety of means (including the filibuster) to exert power beyond their number. ... Today, the most powerful interest group, or at least the most obnoxious, is the Christian right...

http://www.slate.com/id/2117394/

from Slate, by Timothy Noah


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp