The Nuclear Option, or, remember when we had three branches of gov't, and we liked it that way?

I don't really understand why, but for some reason there has been almost no coverage of Bill Frist's intended dismantling of the filibuster. I can't overtstate the significance of what he's trying to do - which, incidentally, is why some refer to his plan as the "nuclear option" for the scale of effect it will have on our constitution and congressional procedure. Quite simply, Frist wants to change the rules of the senate so that all that is needed to stop a filibuster is a simple majority vote. Therefore, if a single party controls the senate and the white house, there is nothing to stand in the way of the white house's judicial nominees, because the minority party can't block their approval by filibuster. Even though a president's nominees are by and large usually approved, there is a fraction whose approval is vociferously blocked by filibuster. Now, with Bush re-nominating some of those who were blocked last time, Frist wants to weaken into impotence the best chance the minority democrats have to save the courts. If I'm not explaining this well, which is probably the case, you can read a pretty good article on it here.

As I write this, a dinner of wild duck is being prepared for Bill Frist and his staunch opponent, Harry Reid. They will sit down to dinner tonight and decide whether there can be a compormise on this issue, what many are calling the climax of a "culture war" in america between the religious right and the left. These are dangerous days...