[jimbob45]

The last time was 2009-2010 for the Democrats. The Republicans have never held 60 seats.

But the real crime is that the left never exploited that. If I was in charge, I’d have mountains of draft legislation vetted, proofread, run by every lawmaker, and printed out years before any potential majority just in case it ever came about. Whoever was in charge of the DNC in 2009 should feel ashamed of letting a generational advantage largely go to waste.

[lotsofpulp]

Crack open some Wikipedia and learn about how there were at least 2-3 independents as part of the 60 votes, who often did not vote with Democrats. See the myriad compromises that had to be made for healthcare reform to pass so that the ACA could become reality, including nixing the “public” option due to some of those aforementioned independents.

[inigyou]

The democrats aren't the left. How would the left exploit a democrat majority? That is like saying the democrats didn't exploit a republican majority.

[lesuorac]

The 60 seats business needs to stop.

Fillibuster is a senate procedure rule. That's about the weakest a thing could be. At any point Democrats could have gotten rid of the filibuster with a 51 majority.

Democrats would much rather let congress do nothing than do something. It's hurt their reputation so much.

[johnnyanmac]

It's an oddly convenient tool. Especially if you value passing good laws less than allowing bad laws to pass. And it seems like our government is indeed run like a business; highly risk adverse to the point where it's better to spend more time in meetings than doing actual work. These people won't be chastised as much as they deserve for doing nothing, so that won't push them either.

I like the idea of the filibuster, but like most things it degraded from a way to force the stand to consider your ideas at all costs, to a blatant stalling tactic, to a lazy button to push against anything you disagree with. I'd rather throw it out these days than keep it, but ideally we'd completely revamp it to close such obvious loopholes and bring back some skin in the game.