The Filibuster

This is reminiscent of interest groups tugging the government's attention and pocketbook towards their causes. The most direct connection to the government is at the very beginning of the movie when the governor of Smith’s state must appoint a senator to fill a vacancy. Under the Seventeenth Amendment, if a vacancy occurs due to the death or resignation of a senator, in most states, the governor of that state can directly appoint a senator until the next election. Another direct connection was the committee which investigated Smith, now called the Ethics Committee. One of the biggest connections to government was Smith’s use of a filibuster to protest the proposed dam. There is a man from CBS news giving a radio broadcast who reads the rules of a filibuster, that the senator cannot stop talking and cannot take a seat while they are talking or they will lose the floor. Another connection was between government and the press. In Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, the press uses the tactic of framing, twisting the headlines to suit their point of view. One of the other newspapermen quips that the stories about Smith are “Taylor made.” Framing is the technique of putting importance on a certain issue and giving it meaning to suit the media point of view. Taylor was against Smith, so

The film, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” presents the Senate in a little different fashion than that of the Senate today in real life. The first obvious difference is that the Senate in the movie is still elected by the state legislature, basically the Governor, meaning that the setting of the film would have to be sometime before 1911 and the passage of the 17th amendment Senate] The difference is that today Senators are directly elected by the popular vote of the people.

Filibusters were a common tactic used for preventing the passing of a bill by holding the senate floor and using any means to delay or block

Congressional gridlock is not a modern invention in the world of politics. Alexander Hamilton use to complain about the deadlock “flaw” in the design of Congress. In politics, “Congressional gridlock” is a situation in Congress where there are complications in passing laws for the people. Gridlock could be prevented if we had a democracy for the majority and unified. While many view this as frustrating, gridlocks are starting to become a political norm. This leads to a divided government. Congressional gridlock in the states has become an everyday topic that nobody really understands what to do. The creation of gridlock is seen every day. The failure that Congress comes with when trying to agree upon the nation’s budget, or have the right

Congressional gridlock in the United States is at a high currently, doubling since the 1950s. Gridlock is the slowing of the legislative processes due to the difficulty of congressional officials to agree on certain bills and or laws. Gridlock makes the passage of legislation time consuming and hardly any progress can be accomplished. This is how Congress acquired the nickname “Do Nothing Congress.”This usually occurs when both parts of Congress, the House of Representatives and the Senate, are of opposing parties. This then makes the President have the final say.

Today, Supreme Court Nominee’s, Neil Gorsuch, Confirmation hearing came near conclusion on a very confrontational note with the Senate’s Principal Democrat threatening to filibuster. This would complicate the way the senate “conducts its business”. The Republicans eager to confirm Gorsuch only have a 52-majority instead of the 60-majority that is necessary. However, they say he will be confirmed anyway, even if it means removing the filibuster option and allowing nominees to be confirmed with a simple majority vote. Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer’s decision to filibuster was not unexpected but it will increase tension in the senate. “If this nominee cannot earn 60 votes — a bar met by each of President Obama’s nominees, and George Bush’s last two nominees — the answer isn’t to change the rules. It’s to change the nominee,” he said. Although the democrats do not have the votes to block this motion, his filibuster will publicize the resistance in the Congress.

On the other hand, there are a lot of cons to filibusters too. It is true that having the power to filibuster helps ensure the voices of the minority but it can also mean that having the power to filibuster ensures the tyranny of the minority. Because the size of the senate is not based on the size of the population of each state, every state gets two senators. It is now possible according to Jean Edward Smith, “for the senators representing the 34 million people who live in the 21 least populous states — a little more than 11 percent of the nation’s population — to nullify the wishes of the representatives of the remaining 88 percent of Americans. (Smith, 2009). This is completely the opposite of what the framers wanted, they wanted the government to represent the people not a small portion of the people. This is very dangerous because now if ever the more populous states wants to pass a bill on an issue regarding their states population, the more sparse states

Congressional gridlock has been around for centuries in Congress and does not seem to be changing anytime soon. Congressional gridlock refers to the inaction of the government and failure to make a decision or legislative law that satisfy the needs of the people. This inaction of the government and stagnation occurs when two parties cannot agree on a single matter, and they cannot come to a good agreement on how or when the law is going to be passed, thus leaving complex problems in the nation unhandled. Congressional gridlock does not just come and take over the government on its own, though. It is evident that congressional gridlock is a major problem in the American government that needs to be addressed because there are so many root causes that the government fails to fix including gerrymandering and a lack of “bridge-builders.” Solutions to these causes that have yet to be made include improving the system of checks and balances and reducing representative dynamics and some of the nation’s most pressing problems that should not even be examples of congressional gridlock include climate change and the gun laws issue.

Filibuster in short is an action that the Senate uses to prolong or procrastinate passing a bill making it to a law. This can definitely contribute to gridlock. Congressional gridlock can be traced back many years. Some seem to think it all started when the political parties changed.

1. A member of the House of Representatives or the Senate formally proposes the bill

The blocking of legislation is nothing new to the Republican party. According to the article Why Washington’s Tied Up in Knots, Republicans have been blocking legislation since the late nineteen sixties, where they blocked a little less than ten percent of major legislation using the filibuster tactic. The filibuster was a rare thing to behold, on average only occurring once every ten years, until during Bill Clinton's term in which nearly fifty eight filibusters had been enacted by the Republican party. The number of filibusters has nearly doubled in just the past year alone, with a whopping one thirty eight filibusters (United States Senate), all instigated by the Republican party to block as many of President Barack Obama's initiatives as possible, including the delay and possible destruction of the all important health care bill.

Others use the tactic to waste time for other matters which leave bills grid-locked. Nevertheless, the policy is used in order to block a bill, amendment, or any other resolution to prevent it from becoming a final vote. During a filibuster, the senator has several rules and regulations to follow. There is a

Some members of Congress against spending caps hold the government hostage and threaten to use their legislative influence to institute

It all started when a young man that goes by the name of Jefferson Smith was elected to the United States senate unbeknownst of what was to come and was way in over his head. Jefferson Smith started off as a boy ranger when he was younger and was very prideful in the United States of America. He eventually gets elected to the senate of the United States but is woefully naive and is ridiculed by most of the other senators. One senator however, that went by the name of Joseph Paine who was also Smith's father friend took Smith under his wing to teach him the ins and the outs of being a senator. Senator Joseph Paine however, is secretly corrupt. Smiths naivety allows him to be made a fool out of in the press and in the newspaper. Senator Joseph Paine’s daughter Susan, is a love interest of Smith. Problems erupt when Joseph Paine suggests that Smith propose a bill to keep him occupied. With the help of his secretary, Clarissa Saunders, Smith suggests a bill to open up a boys camp in his home country with a loan from

Desperate situations call for uncoventional actions. In the video “The Devils Miner” Basilio Vargas a 14 year old boy who works in the trecharerous, labor-intensive and grueling, Cerro Rivo Silver Mines takes the responsibility of an adult at a young age. Basilio takes the father figure of his family working to provide basic needs for his family: shelter, clothing, and food. If Basilio, a mature and determined 14 year old can take on the positon of being head of the household, then a child who has the mental and physical capactiy to work can start crontributing to his family. If you are like Basilio, fatherless and have sibilings to support, the older sibiling should rise to the occasion to provide for his or her family. A child who is