Arizona Senator John McCain has come out against any “public option” in the health care debate, and has condemned any thought of using “reconciliation”, the concept of having the Senate pass legislation with a simple majority of 51 senators.
This would bring about a drastic change of method in how the Senate operates, McCain declared.
Hmmm, this is very interesting. It is enough to pass a bill with a majority of members of the House of Representatives, but doing the same in the Senate is unfair, heh?
Seems to me MANY many times throughout the history of the Republic, we have had legislation pass by a bare majority of the Senate, and sometimes only passing after a 50-50 tie with the Vice President breaking the deadlock.
Apparently, it is more democratic, (not the party, but the idea), to require a 60 vote majority, which is three fifths of the Senate. This is what we call the filibuster, a tactic which has been used many times in history to BLOCK something the majority wanted, usually something that benefits the country at large, but can be prevented by a determined, obstructive minority.
So this is more fair, Senator McCain? I say, NO, it is UNDEMOCRATIC!