Why is filibuster criticized as being undemocratic

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Department of History. Home Topics Africa. Middle East. North America. International Relations Religion Education Sports. Search form Search. Connecting History. Hot off the Press. History Talk. Even though Sen. Olympia Snowe R-Maine voted against cloture in the Senate, she had voted for the bill to go forward in the Finance Committee and was vilified by her Republican colleagues.

She went on to retire from the Senate because of the hostility of her fellow Republicans. This is hardly a democratic process. First, I believe the filibuster is unconstitutional. The Constitution carefully specifies when a supermajority is required. The filibuster is not one of them. Second, the Senate is already, structurally and undemocratically, tilted in favor of the minority. Each state, regardless of population, is allotted two senators.

So Wyoming, population ,, has as many senators as California, population 39 million. And when that cloud passes, the United States deserves a government in which the majority can govern. Max Foley-Keene is a freshman government and politics major. He can be reached at maxfkcap gmail. Search for:. Photo Podcasts Video. Special Projects. Terps Watch. Sponsored Articles. The Diamondback Store. Please support our journalism by donating to The Diamondback. Recommended Articles.

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In all, there is nothing especially deliberative about the filibuster, which has always been a tool of obstruction. Calls for its elimination are nothing new. As politics have become toxic with the radicalization of the Republicans and asymmetrical polarization, its destructive anti-democratic power has intensified, even after the Trump catastrophe that culminated in the January 6 th insurrection at the Capitol. In the current crisis of democracy, with so many of our basic constitutional and majoritarian norms under attack — including the right to vote, the most fundamental democratic right of all — it is absurd to protect the filibuster as some sort of venerable guardian of sound government.

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