The Filibuster

In his book Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy, Adam Jentleson exposes the filibuster’s true nature as an anti-democratic mechanism with dark roots in efforts to establish white supremacy and suppress civil rights. Politicians defending it claim that it protects the public from the tyranny of the majority. In fact, it serves to inflict upon the public the tyranny of the minority. That will be its effect writ large if it stands in the way of voting rights protection bills passed by the House and awaiting consideration by the Senate. As of this moment, it appears likely that if the filibuster survives, American democracy won’t.