Ms Loth writes:
Indelibly associated with Jimmy Stewart in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’’ - or, less profoundly, with Louisiana’s Huey Long reciting recipes for fried oysters and potlikker in 1935 - the filibuster was designed to be a marathon test of wills, with the truly committed undergoing punishing conditions to prevent odious schemes from becoming law.As my youngest son would point out, that would be Huey P Long.
I am probably a lot older than Ms Loth, so I get my "indelible association" not from movies and books, but from Democratic Party Senators blocking Civil Rights legislation in the 1950s and especially the 1960s.
I agree that there are too many filibusters, as this chart from Wikipedia shows.
But, in working to fix this problem, let us not pretend that the filibuster is about Jimmy Stewart and a man from Louisiana who served less than a full term, and that in the 1930s. On the other hand, we may be able to give a nod to the late Senator Mike Mansfield♠ for ending the then approach to the filibuster and getting Civil Rights legislation through the US Senate.
Regards — Cliff
♠ The late Senator has a background that should provide motivation and inspiration for many a youth struggling with school.
1 comment:
For an excellent description on how power was used in the senate, especially on the use of the filibuster during the Civil Rights era read the first 100 pages of Robert Caro's Master of the Senate, the third of his boigraphical series on Lyndon Johnson.
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