First, the Senate is not, as it might claim, the world’s greatest deliberative body. Deliberation has gone the way of the dodo. What passes for debate today seldom involves parties on both sides of an issue who argue about problems and solutions. Instead, Senate oratory has devolved into party name-calling and blame-gaming.
Second, the Senate has lost its role as an important counterbalance to the more volatile and impetuous House. When it is not imitating the ways of the House, it is trying to upstage it for the sake of attention.
Third, the Senate is supposed to be the bastion of forging-game changing compromises. Instead, it is playing one-upmanship in contriving more outrageous demands.
Fourth, the Senate is supposed to be the overseer of the executive branch, holding in its hands the fate of presidential nominees, treaties, political agendas, and spending priorities. Instead, it has been forfeiting the initiative to the president on all of these fronts.
