The Party of No: Fiction or Reality?

I know the filibuster (and threat thereof) is used by both parties, but it has seemed to me that it has taken a much more prominent role in politics lately. My impression has been that Replubicans have taken a particularly active role in blocking Obama's agenda in the last year. However, as a social scientist, I know that impressions are merely a place to start inquiry, not the end.

So, I have been wondering if the threat of filibuster has been used more often lately, or if that is just my (admittedly somewhat partisan) biased impression.

Well, I will wonder no longer.

Alternet and Talking Points Memo have posted an illuminating set of figures about the use of cloture, or filibuster, in recent years.

The most instructive figure is for the number of cloture motions filed since the Democrats took control of the Senate. Close to 140 motions on cloture and over 140 votes on cloture took place during the first session (2007-08) in which Democrats were in control of the Senate. Compare this to previous sessions, none of which experienced over 80 votes or motions of cloture, with the exception of the 1995-1998 session - another highly partisan era in American politics. (It still did not come even close to 100!)

Somehow, only 1 in 4 Americans know that 60 votes are required to break a filibuster in the Senate. I don't know how anyone in America could miss the hype over the formerly "filibuster-proof" Senate and its loss upon the election of Scott Brown in the special election to fill former Senator Ted Kennedy's seat. But if they did manage to miss it, they would not know that only 40 votes block any legislation in the Senate, and therefore in the entire government.

Apparenly, Republicans have learned how to appeal to the less educated and lower classes. Otherwise, how would they figure out how to (over)simplify their messages into tiny packages like "socialized medicine doesn't work, ever" and "free markets are more efficient than regulations" (despite our horrific experience with unregulated markets in the last couple of years!!). In short, they have the mentality of the American folk tradition down pat. Stragtegic use of sound bites can really get traction, especially on Fox News.

The end result of this lop-sided competition is that fifty percent of independents say Obama has done “too little to compromise with the Republican leaders in Congress on important issues.”

In short, the GOP has every incentive in the world to block everything as long as they don’t pay a political price for it. Which is exactly what they have been doing.