re: #46 Hecuba’s daughter

When did this 60 vote barrier become a thing? When I was young, except for a few (very few) filibusters, it took a simple majority to pass legislation. When did this radical change occur to obstruct basically almost all legislation? Was it simply the decision to replace a talking filibuster with anyone raising their hand and saying “filibuster” without a requirement to take any other action? Is that when this all started?

It became a barrier when it became mandatory for Republicans to oppose anything Democrats wanted to do because A Black Man Was President. If their irrational hatred of Obama hadn’t driven them to be completely reactionary and anti-democratic, we might not be having this conversation today.