This week, Senator John Fetterman did something rare in Washington: he admitted he had changed his mind.
For years, many Democrats called for ending the Senate filibuster. Fetterman was among them. But in a new op-ed in the Washington Post, he said he now sees the filibuster as far more than a cumbersome Senate procedure. It is an institutional safeguard that prevents the extremes from remaking the country.
We need it now more than ever.
You may have seen that the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) recently released a platform calling for, among other things, abolishing the Senate, presidency, and Supreme Court. President Trump has been pushing for months for the Senate to abolish the filibuster so they can pass his SAVE Act.
But dumping the filibuster would only make the extremism and tribalism consuming our politics so much worse.
That is why, this week, we are thinking about George Norris, one of the figures profiled in our recent publication, Beyond Lincoln: 25 Unsung Heroes of American Unity.
Norris was a Republican congressman from Nebraska who later became a maverick senator. He was an institutionalist—passionate about reforming and enforcing the rules determining how Congress serves the people.
In 1910, Republican Speaker Joseph Cannon wielded near-total control over the legislative process. Norris led a revolt against him, stripping the Speaker of his seat on the Rules Committee and giving rank-and-file members more power over legislation.
He understood that rules are what decides whether Congress belongs to the whole country or to whoever seizes control at a given moment.
That lesson is worth remembering now.
The filibuster can be frustrating. It slows things down. It stops both parties from passing bills they care about. It often forces leaders to accept less than they want.
But that is exactly the point.
Our system was not designed to let one inflamed movement impose its will on the entire country. It was designed to force broader consent before major changes become law.
That is precisely why the filibuster is so high on the target list for extremist movements. It stands between the fringes and the power to have their way with our political system.
George Norris spent his career fighting for rules that made Congress more accountable, more deliberative, and less vulnerable to concentrated power.
That is the same spirit we need today, and it is the spirit Sen. Fetterman showed this week.
The test of principle is not whether we defend the rules when they help us win, but whether we defend them when they stop our side from getting what it wants.
That is what serious leaders do. And in this moment, America needs more of them.
Liz Morrison
