January 19, 2010 06:46 AM UTC

The benefit of a Brown win in Massachusetts.

•  
• by: DavidThi808

Ok, this may be a bit out there but the smart money is on Brown and that got me thinking. There actually could be a gigantic advantage for us Dems and the country if Brown wins.

Now stick with me on this and read to the end before calling me bad names.

The Senate is presently broken. It requires 60 votes to move forward a bill praising motherhood & apple pie. The personal hold is used by some Senators to hold up hundreds of bills. Regardless of party, you can see that nothing moves forward in the Senate and unless you favor anarchy, that’s not viable long term.

Having 60 votes was in some ways a disadvantage. Because the expectation of the country was we have the 60, we can still get things done. The average voter is not going to look at the details where we have to ruin every bill to get Lieberman’s vote.

And we have Senators like Ben Nelson, who are good Senators, and are liberal for their state, who vote against their preferences and risk their seat, in order to be a good Democrat – because every vote is needed.

But this past year has clearly illustrated one thing to the people in this country – that without 60 votes nothing will move through the Senate. And that the Republicans will never join. Not one, not for any reason.

So if Brown is elected, everyone will clearly understand that under the present rules, no bills will be passed (unless we let the Republicans write all legislation). We are facing a total halt in Congress.

Which provides the opportunity to change the rules in the Senate. Cloture was there for 100 years just so the South could stop civil rights legislation. And the unspoken agreement was it would only be used for that.

But with its present unlimited use, the rules have to change. And legally, it only takes a majority to change the rules. Because the constitution and the law requires nothing more. The Senate rules require more, but those base rules can be changed with a majority vote.

If the Senate switches to a majority vote, we will actually see more bipartisan effort. Because we are then at the point that laws are going to be passed, but by getting involved, the Republicans can make them better laws.

Saying no to bring things to a standstill can give the Republicans an advantage. Saying no and watching law after law get passed – that just makes them irrelevant.

So… A Brown win could be the best outcome for us Dems.