On Specter & The Swine Flu

For those of you who haven’t heard – and especially for those of you who don’t care – Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) is now Senator Arlen Specter (D-PA), switching parties, as he says, to avoid getting thumped in the 2010 election primary by another Republican. This puts the D’s in the US Senate at 60, counting the clown from Minnesota.

So, I recall some years ago when the R’s had majorities in the House, Senate, and held the White House, D’s across the nation decried the state of affairs as out of step with the founding principle of “checks and balances.” But it wasn’t a true monopoly. The Senate, as some may know, is designed to protect the minority (unlike the House, which resembles a mobocracy)…to some extent.

The Senate rules seek to adhere to this spirit of protecting the minority by requiring 60 votes to do anything. You must have at least 60 votes to agree to vote on an actual bill. You have to have 60 votes to agree to move from “Morning Business” (sort of like open mic night), to the “Executive Calendar” (where the Senate exercises its right to “Advise and Consent” Executive Branch matters), and to the “Legislative Calendar.” Doing anything in the Senate requires 60 votes. So, when the D’s held 40+ seats in the Senate during the R’s “reign of terror” some years ago, they were able to block anything the R’s wanted to do. If the D’s held party discipline, the R’s wouldn’t have been able to pass anything.

So, the R’s never had unfettered power in DC, even though they had majorities in both the House and Senate, and held the White House. However, thanks to Mr. Specter, the D’s now* have unchecked power (*I’m not sure when exactly he will change his registration, and caucus – or, count himself – with the D’s).

Now, for all those angry R’s out there, let’s not fall into the intellectually bereft argument that this unchecked power violates the “checks and balances” principle. That foolish, lame, and deceptive argument the D’s used a few years back is foolish, lame, and dishonest because “checks and balances” referred to the three branches of government checking each other, not multiple political parties checking each other.

And in this, our bleak hour of R’ness, bear in mind that now that the D’s do have true, unadulterated, unchecked and unfettered power, we can be juvenile and blame them for everything that goes wrong during this season of darkness…including the swine flu ;-)