Why aren't 59 votes enough in the Senate?

Fired Up! co-founder Roy Temple writes about the Senate and the Republicans' misuse of the filibuster in The Beacon today.  Here's an excerpt:

There once was a time that Republicans in the Senate played the role of a constructive minority, taking the ideas of Democrats, trimming off some of the excesses and offering ways to improve the legislation. By their recent actions, Republicans have signaled that those days are long since gone.

Yet, so far, Republicans have paid no political price for these tactics. In part, that was possible because the Democrats had 60 votes and the media focused on why the Democrats couldn't unify to pass legislation over Republican objection.

But things have changed. Once Senator-elect Brown is seated, the Republicans will have 41 votes in the Senate. With that comes the power to stop all legislation that they as a party choose to block. There is virtually no way around them if they stick together.

As President Barack Obama indicated in his State of the Union Address last week, now that the Republicans have the power to block any legislation that they choose, they now have the responsibility to govern as well.

Will they live up to that obligation? Only time will tell.

Check out the full article here.

Image credit: Andrew Golis, via Matthew Ygelsias