John Stossel
«
»

  • December 30, 2009 12:11 PM UTC by John Stossel

    This Week's Column: 3 Cheers for the Filibuster

    Listening to pundits like Paul Krugman bemoan that ramming through a 2,000+ page Senate bill was made so difficult by the horrible …  filibuster, you’d think that this Senate rule dating back to the 19th Century was some kind of threat to democracy. In this week’s syndicated column, I argue the opposite:

    On any given day, what is Congress more likely to do: violate or expand liberty? As nineteenth-century New York Judge Gideon Tucker put it, “No man’s life, liberty or property are safe while the legislature is in session.”

    Libertarian science-fiction writer Robert Heinlein had a good idea. One of his novels depicted a bicameral legislature with one chamber needing a supermajority to pass laws and the other needing only a minority of votes to repeal them.

    By the standard of protecting freedom and keeping government caged, that’s not a bad idea. It should be easier to repeal laws than to pass them.

    More on why there should be MORE filibusters here.

RSS Subscribe to Comments

Janet Riger

I am one of many Fox News viewers in Mesa AZ. We cannot find which chanel Fox Buisness News is on. Could you please email me back and let me know what cannel you are on. Thank you, Janet Riger

December 30, 2009 at 7:30 pm

ManUnderMask

Didn't Congress try to do this during the Bush administration too?

December 30, 2009 at 4:21 pm

John Biever

The Liberal Goverment of this country is out of control and does not listen to the majority of the people. It is pretty sad we are going down the drain and our hard working people money is being wasted by the goverment. The mental bill is a joke, know buddy reads it in Congress.

December 30, 2009 at 3:19 pm

Cicero

Beautiful column. Is there any way for you to get it published in the NYT? Opinion piece? Letter to the editor?

December 30, 2009 at 3:14 pm

SocalDude

Just have Congress do what we have to do with legal docs, initial every single page. Then they can't claim they didn't read it and just maybe the bills will be shorter and less often.

December 30, 2009 at 2:54 pm

LAD

Heinlein's idea is brilliant. Krugman hates constitutions, laws and rules that constrain his grand plans for us all.

December 30, 2009 at 2:51 pm

Steve C.

I find it interesting that you quoted Pierre-Joseph Proudhon... considering that he was an anarchist (and *not* an anarcho-capitalist) who consorted with Karl Marx and objected to capitalism... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Joseph_Proudhon

December 30, 2009 at 2:33 pm

Speedmaster

OUTSTANDING column, well-done!!!

December 30, 2009 at 12:43 pm

About this Web Site

  • John Stossel joined FOX Business and FOX News in October 2009. His show, Stossel, airs on the Fox Business Network on Thursdays at 9 PM and midnight ET. It re-runs Fridays at 10 p.m., Saturdays at 9 p.m. and 12 midnight, and Sundays at 10 p.m. (all times eastern).

    He is the New York Times best-selling author of Give Me A Break and Myths, Lies and Downright Stupidity. His "Give Me a Break" commentaries take a skeptical look at a wide array of issues, such as education, the economy, parenting, and more.

    Subscribe to the RSS feed for this blog.

browse posts