The Undemocratic Senate

The undemocratic nature of the US Senate is analysed here:

Many leaders and supporters are beginning to wonder, what is causing this
growing gap between the Barack Obama that many people saw on the campaign trail,
and the Obama they see in the White House? Beyond Obama's oratorical skills,
which excited not only American voters but people all over the world, he is
mostly untested as a politician. His previous experience was only a few years in
the US Senate and a few years more as a state senator. A sinking feeling is
arising among many that President Obama may not be up to the task, that he may
not possess the artful skills needed to accomplish even his own goals.

But it must be recognized that it's not just Obama's shortcomings that
are causing the problem. The very structure of the American political system is
at the heart of these failures. For example, thwarting Obama on a regular basis
is an unrepresentative Senate where "minority rule" prevails and undermines what
a majority of the country may want. With two senators elected per state,
regardless of population, California with more than 35 million people has the
same number of senators as Wyoming with just half a million residents. This
constitutional arrangement greatly favors low population states, many of which
tend to be conservative, producing what one political analyst has called "a
weighted vote for small-town whites in pickup trucks with gun racks."

In addition, the Senate's use of that arcane rule known as the
"filibuster" means you need 60 out of 100 votes to stop unlimited debate on a
bill and move to a vote. A mere 41 senators, representing as little as 20% of
the nation's population, can stymie what the other 80% wants. Given a vastly
unrepresentative senate wielding its anti-majoritarian filibuster, it is hardly
surprising that minority rule in the senate consistently undermines majority
rule, whether on health care, financial industry reform, environmental
legislation and many other policies.

Pile on to that an uncompetitive, winner-take-all electoral system, marinated in money and special interest influence, and the sclerotic US political scene is deeply troubling. None of these anti-democratic structural features are going away any time soon. Unless Barack Obama is able to demonstrate a better level of political skill than he has shown so far, everyone needs to fasten their seat belts. The world is about to enter a challenging phase where the US - the undisputed leader of the free world for the past 60 years - is going to rapidly cede its place at the head of the line.