I disagree with the letter to the editor in The Des Moines Register written by Ivan T. Webber that, “The United States Senate is an outdated relic that can no longer be justified in the modern world.” He noted that none of the upper houses of the other G-7 nations can block ordinary legislation. (“The US Senate is unacceptably undemocratic” published 11/11/2021)
We elect our representatives democratically, but our founding fathers and our Constitution created a Republic that protects certain fundamental rights of minorities against the will of majorities. The Senate was specifically designed to protect smaller states from being abused by larger states. If a minority in the Senate blocks the majority from achieving their goals, it is a feature, not a bug.
Important decisions made by our government that affect the lives of everyone should require more than a simple majority vote. As we’ve seen, when the party in power has passed laws by a slim majority, whether Democrat or Republican, it has created a very divided populace. We have an increasingly diverse population in the U.S., so our laws should, as much as possible, allow people to pursue happiness in their own way, not forced by government policy, if we want to maintain a civil society.
Libertarian Perspectives 