President Obama's Reconciliatory Way or Constitutional Failure and Dictatorship??

Yesterday President Obama announced that he appointed a White House lawyer, Rashad Hussain, to be his special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference. This announcement highlights how much he values reconciliation and understanding in an effort to solve problems. This characteristic of President Obama is atypical of contemporary American presidents. We Americans have been conditioned to expect antagonistic approaches by our Presidents and we are puzzled by a President who really is trying to change the ways things are done in Washington. Both the Congressional Democrats and Republicans seem to be unable to get on board and work to change our political climate. President Obama has constantly tried to engage the Republicans in Congress without success.

The Senate Republicans have succeeded to block virtually every legislative act by imposing a filibuster that allows a minority to stop any legislation by demanding a super majority of 60 votes to pass anything.The filibuster is a Senate rule (that could be overturned by the Senate) that was enacted by the then Senate, over 150 years ago, to permit a minority to stonewall legislation indefinitely. Early uses of the filibuster included actions to prevent laws preventing slavery in new US territories or new states from being enacted. Then, Southern Democrats often filibustered to preserve slavery. Republicans and Whigs were generally opposed to slavery.

Now the Senate Republicans filibuster everything President Obama and the Congressional Democrats attempt to legislate, and our country suffers. Seems odd to me that the use of the filibuster has generally been used to block social and human right legislation by both parties when they were minorities in the Senate. The House of Representatives does not have a filibuster rule and the majority usually prevails and compromise is often achieved between opposing views. Our Constitutional Founders never believed that our Senators would act as dictators within our elected government. But, so it is. We have not escaped from the dictatorial powers of the Monarch that sparked our American Revolution and our Declaration of Independence from the dictatorial King of England and his regime.

The Senate filibuster rule requires 60% of the Senators to pass any legislation that the minority can block indefinitely by demanding use of the filibuster rule. Consequently, President Obama, who believes that consensus and reconciliation among different views is the best approach to governance in a Democratic Republic that is the USA, and generally our Constitution has worked when legislators reach consensus as our Founders intended. Our Constitution was a masterful work of collaboration and consensus between very different ideas for our basic foundation as a nation. Our Constitution should be a remainder for all of us that great results are attained by compromise and reconciliation. Our country would not exist as a Constitutional Republic without reconciliation among our Founders.

Everyday, we now hear clamoring talking heads and enraged politicians and activist groups yelling that our government is broken. No it is not our Government that is broken, it is the abusive use of the Senate filibuster rule that has been enacted more times in the first year of the Obama administration than in any full term Administration in our history. What is needed is a Constitutional Amendment that prevents the use of the Senate filibuster and affirms our Constitutional purpose that a simple majority vote is all that is required, except for an Amendment to our Constitution. Therein lies the Catch 29. Such an Amendment would be filibustered to death.

Are we doomed by the filibuster rule in the Senate to perpetual stalemate? If so our Government is certainly obsolete and our Constitution meaningless. President Obama is acting responsibly when he tries to collaborate and bring disparate views together to achieve beneficial legislation for the American people. There is no option to governance if we want to continue to operate as a Constitutional Republic where the good of all citizens counts, and exclusive beliefs and interests must be compromised and not demanded if our Constitution is to survive. Otherwise we will return to dictatorial rule as was our fate before the American Revolution. The choice is ours. Speak out!