Morning Fog has often called for procedural reforms in Congress, but especially in the Senate, to make it more effectual, quicker, and more responsive to the demands of today's pace of life -- most recently in "Busting The Filibuster?", where we expressed the hope that at least some of the changes being proposed by a handful of Senators might be adopted.
Unfortunately, our prediction -- that efforts toward reform would get nowhere -- proved to be correct. Ezra Klein's recent item, "The Senate vs. The Future," laments this fact and does a great job of limning the damage that a dysfunctional Senate can do to our future.
One of the problems with Senate reform, of course, has always been that Senators are usually ... ah... "advanced in years," which gives the body a built-in bias toward inertia. Some, like the blatantly bewildered Mitch McConnell, seem beyond even conceptualizing a future, and actively seek to return the country to the past. Others are just over the hill and out of touch, like our now-Minority leader Harry Reid. Republicans could probably have defeated Reid in November if they'd managed to field a halfway mainstream candidate. McConnell unfortunately seems safe for now; he's not due to run again until 2014, when the current anti-incumbent fervor most likely will have run its course. These codgers need to be persuaded of the need for change.
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