From Kathy Gill at The Moderate Voice:
When I figured out that the modern filibuster is first cousin to the three-fifths clause and the Electoral College, its use by the 21st century GOP and Mitch McConnell made so much sense.
Follow along; I’ll show you how I got here. And in the process, how I evolved from someone who has historically honored norms to someone who sees clearly how the contemporary Senators have debased them. Trump was the culmination, not the initiation, of the Republican Party’s rejection of history.
First, the Constitution is predicated on majority votes, not the supermajority required by a filibuster. The Articles of Confederation (remember them? they failed) required a supermajority. Each state had one vote, and 9 of 13 states were needed to pass any law of substance. Based on personal experience, the framers crafted a Constitution that has limited requirements for a supermajority. For example, a two-thirds majority is needed to override a presidential veto, to expel a member of the Senate, or to convict a federal officer of an impeachable offense.
Nor was the filibuster part of the original Senate. The framers knew it could/would be abused. It did not come to life until they had all died.
“Originally, Senate rules included a provision allowing a majority to end debate, and an early manual written by Thomas Jefferson established procedures for silencing senators who debated ‘superfluous, or tediously.’ Obstruction was considered beneath them.”
But John C. Calhoun (SC) — the man who started the Civil War — wanted a Senate where the minority could block the majority. James Madison (VA, the “father of the Constitution”) believed majority rule was the “republican principle.”