Tyranny of the Majority

James Madison

The American Founders were very clever fellows. And while they may have lacked the foresight to  anticipate the ever increasing complexity of issues that would face their new nation as the events of future centuries unwound, they very clearly understood the nature of the human condition. It could be argued that some things simply don't change.

Writing in Federalist No .47, James Madison argued that "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." While he was specifically referring to the need for the three branches of government to be "separate and distinct",  this sentiment could be applied to the whole system of checks and balances, which is manifested in the operating rules and regulations of the various branches of government.

Writing in today's Wall Street Journal, Tom, Korologos opines on the Senate's invoking of the "nuclear option" thereby killing of the filibuster rule. Korologos explains:

"In leading the charge, Majority Leader Harry Reid erased 225 years of precedent and altered the soul of the U.S. Senate."

His article also includes a handy re-cap of the various requirements contained in the Constitution so as to protect against Tyranny. You might want to send  the article to your favorite Senator, or to the President for that matter.

Speaking from the Senate floor in 2005, then-Senator Barack Obama, former Constitutional Law professor, railed against the possibility of Republicans invoking the same nuclear option:

"Mr. President, I rise today to urge my colleagues to think about the implications of what has been called the nuclear option and what effect that might have on this Chamber and on this country,” Obama said “I urge all of us to think not just about winning every debate but about protecting free and democratic debate.”

You may also want to check out the entire Breitbart article, by Matthew Boyle, to see what other Democrat luminaries had to say at the time.


So what we have here is a president on the ropes due to the melt-down of what was to have been his signature legislative program, scrambling to change the collective subject. He invited his friends in the media to the White House to ask their help in burnishing his tarnished image, including that they  excise the word, "Obamacare" from their reporting. He also has actively lobbied Senate Democrats to encourage their invocation of the nuclear option. 225 years of precedent, thrown under the bus in an attempt to shift public attention away from the further critique of the Emperor's wardrobe. To paraphrase Dean Wormer, " Son, promoting unworkable, big-government schemes, while being over one's head and, increasingly out-of-control, is no way to go through life."