It requires some real commitment rather than just partisan rancor, and that you find enough people who sincerely don't want the legislation (rather than simply wanting to stop an opponent) to get up there and say why. It also makes really ASININE filibusters look like what they are, forces Senators on each side to make a decent case to the public. I don't think it's a coincidence that it was after Strom Thurmond stood up there reading the Bible aloud to stop the Civil Rights Act (and didn't see any hypocrisy in it) that they decided "OK, you don't have to actually ARGUE AGAINST a bill, just vote against ending debate. )

I don't really think the filibuster is within the spirit of the Constitution; if the Founders had wanted that as a standing inviolable rule they could have put it in the Constitution. It's there SOLELY because each chamber is allowed to set its own rules, in much the same way we all have the right to freedom of assembly but any local mayor can prevent an assembly by requiring a permit they refuse to issue. It wouldn't be a problem if DC weren't so partisan now, if the filibuster only came up in sweeping legislation, but when Republicans filibuster Clintons judicial nominees and ten years later Democrats filibuster Bushs while the same Republicans who led the previous one call it "unprecedented" there's not much you can do. Both sides are becoming the same, and for all the accusations of extremism from both sides, both the charges and their basis are 95% rhetoric: Neither party will veer too far from the center, because that cedes victory to the other, but that leaves a choice between John Jackson and Jack Johnson. I actually don't want to get rid of the filibuster, it feels wrong, but if it continues to be used more and more often and partisanly, maybe that's the lesser of two evils.

Which is a real shame, because many things need reform at a fundamental level here. We need a more progressive tax system with a lot less write offs and loop holes (George W. Bush paid a lower percentage tax in 1992 than my mother did, even though he earned about ten times more and she'd just declared bankruptcy. ) Our educational system is worse than ever; I was just talking with someone yesterday who thought athletic scholarships were stupid, but I pointed out that education if often a function of class over here, and such things were designed to alleviate that. It's a completely different paradigm when the state pays for most schooling and all that determines whether and where you go to college is whether you've taken advantages of the opportunities provided. Our healthcare system is a sad joke; forget Canada: MEXICO is starting to have problems with Americans coming down there to mooch medical care they can't afford here. When Americans are slipping over the Rio Grande in search of a better life, something is seriously wrong, and shouting "tax and spend" and "creeping socialism" won't change that. Just about every industry you can name has been so successfully deregulated the only way to further protect profits is constant demands for tort reform, but we wonder why banks and investment firms (to the extent there's still a difference) keep conning consumers and taxpayers out of billions.

We are slitting our own throats; I just wish the educational system hadn't been so thoroughly butchered so few can see that.