by shamanic
I'm of two minds when it comes to congress getting things done. On the one hand, I appreciate a government as restrained as possible, and I'm not too upset when a congress isn't passing a whole lot of laws.
On the other hand, we are a nation of laws, and we elected the congress on a platform of very popular policies, including raising the minimum wage, drawing down the engagement in Iraq, and pursuing economic policies that emphasize the many instead of the few. (Incidentally, I don't think immigration was a major driver in the massive Dem victory last November.)
And congress has largely failed to deliver on the agenda that brought us all out to vote for them, while the Bush agenda that most of us were rejecting appears to have continued unabated. It's a big disappointment, but the reason for this failure is crystal clear: Senate Republicans have decided to use knee-jerk obstructionism and an endless filibuster to deprive the slim Democratic majority of the legislative agenda they promised.
Steve Benen blasts away at senate Republicans at Talking Points Memo, and points us to this action item at ourfuture.org. It is vital that the public understand why the Dems have failed to get massively popular, House-approved legislation through the Senate: there are 49 Republicans there who've opted for obstruction over the popular agenda that Democrats ran and won on in 2006.
Hopefully some of the activism around the 2008 elections will involve hammering Republican senators on their unwillingness to pass a popular platform of initiatives.
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