designed for deadlock

Another week, another round of bills killed in the Senate by the dread filibuster - this time taking down a Don't Ask Don't Tell repeal, the DREAM act and a health bill for 9/11 rescue workers.

When our founding fathers designed our federal government, it was no accident that they created a system built for logger-jam. Wary of giving a central government too much muscle, they architected the famous "balance of powers", making sure that neither the president, the House, the Senate or the courts could run amok. That caution is in large part why DC can't get anything done today; the writers of our Constitution only wanted us to act when there was broad-based consensus to do so.

But even our worry-wort founders might agree that the filibuster is taking caution a little too far.

The filibuster doesn't come from the Constitution; it was an early Senate practice that got formalized into a rule in 1917. Back in the 19th century, there was no way for senators to officially end floor debates (a rule for ending debate got cut in 1806, because it was thought it would never be needed). Starting in the 1830s, lawmakers who strongly disliked a bill would simply (though exhaustingly) debate the bill to death, allowing the Senate to move on to other matters only after relenting to the "filibustering" senator. In 1917 fed up senators finally created a new bill, allowing the chamber to end debate - but only if 60% of the senators agreed. But even the newly formalized "filibuster" isn't the one we're used to today; a few decades ago it was still used only for highly contested bills, whereas today no bill comes up for a vote unless it passes muster with 60 senators.

A 60% majority may not seem so anti-democratic, but when you add it to the fact that 2 senators come from every state - regardless of their size - you get a very funky democracy indeed. Out of curiosity, I added up the populations of the smallest 21 states to see exactly how funky.

In theory, senators representing 11% of the nation's population can block a bill from passing. In other words, for some bills to pass you might need backing from lawmakers representing 90% of the country.

I know "democracy" is a loose term, but even I'm not certain it includes a 90% majority.