Whats worse is that Byrd was recently re-elected even though he was incapacitated (Thurmond was as well). It is a failure of democracy. While I am sure both of their egos are now completely wrapped up in their senatorial roles, they are both doing a disservice to their constituents and country. They should resign.
From Economist:
"...why should the ability of Ted Kennedy and Robert Byrd to get out of bed affect whether or not they can cast votes in the Senate? Why not let them vote via teleconference?
Mr Zengerle thinks through all of the technical objections and doesn't come up with a dead-stop reason to prevent this. Arguably, it's another example of a congressional tradition that distributes power unfairly (it hurts Democrats now, but if a couple Republicans got sick it would be functionally impossible to filibuster) and randomly. The Senate is full of such archaic rules.
Why does it take 60 votes to break a filibuster if not all 100 senators are in their seats? Why can a senator put a "hold" on a nominee without explanation, and without revealing who he is? These rules don't get reformed largely because they are archaic. As one of Mr Zengerle's more grumpy readers says, "Just because it's 2009, doesn't mean we have to trash fundamentals of the Constitution or Senate Rules."
That's poor reasoning, but others are more persuasive. Instead of changing the rules to allow telesenatoring, perhaps Americans should simply elect men and women who are able to carry out their jobs. And perhaps those who can't should have the decency to resign their office. West Virginians elected a near 90-year-old man to be their senator in 2006. That he is unable to carry out his duties today is hardly surprising..." http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/07/let_my_people_teleconference.cfm
No comments:
Post a Comment