Unionized bank workers from Brazil, England, Chile, Germany, and Uruguay are encouraging American workers to undertake an unprecedented campaign against a common enemy: Grupo Santander,

For the Democrats in Congress, winning in November isn’t rocket science; it’s about having the will to pursue survival ruthlessly. The key to winning is giving the American people what they’ll like, and not allowing any of the normal Washington obstacles to stand in the way. But, for Dems to act that way depends on them changing both their beliefs and their behavior. Let’s start with the beliefs.

The first belief that has to change is the idea that deficits are a problem for the Federal Government, that Democrats have to minimize to show that they are responsible. This is a myth, a lie, a scare, or a fraud. Deficits are only a problem when inflation begins to appear. If there is no inflation, Democrats should not even give lip service to the idea that deficits are important.

Are financial executives minions of Cthulhu? Or are they just assholes?

So, summarizing, legislation in this session in three critical areas: credit card reform, the economic stimulus, and health insurance reform have all had to cope with the threat of filibuster. The results in two of the three areas have been harmed greatly by its presence, as have the Americans who have felt the impact of that legislation. In a third area, health insurance reform, the expectation now is that a bill will be passed that benefits the insurance companies far more than the people who have been their victims for many years. Further, the same pattern can be expected in the areas of energy, educational reform, climate change, and job creation, if the Administration now moves forward with a new bill in this area. The filibuster is a devastating hurdle to overcome in any sort of reform. It empowers those both in and outside of the Congress who benefit from present problems, and it enfeebles those who want to solve those problems and serve the interests of the people.

So, why are we still saddled with the filibuster? The answer is that the Democrats didn’t want to get rid of it. They wanted to have the excuse available that they needed 60 votes to keep their promises, and the chance to blame their failure to keep them on Republicans. Blue dogs wanted to keep it because, it gives them inordinate power over the rest of a caucus in which they are a distinct minority. And some progressive Democrats wanted to retain it, because they’ve benefited from it in the past, when they were in the minority and wanted to block particularly obnoxious Republican legislation. So, since so many Democrats wanted to retain it, the possibility of getting rid of the filibuster was never seriously entertained at the beginning of the session. But since the Democrats didn’t rid the Congress of it, they now have to take responsibility for its presence and continuing crippling effects on creating change we can believe. It is, in the end, the Senate Democrats fault that we haven’t had better credit card reform, and a better stimulus with more jobs and fewer unemployed. And it is also their fault that the health insurance reform bill is likely to be an onerous change that does more harm than good. It is their fault, because it is they who prioritized the comfortable tradition of the filibuster, ahead of the promises they made to the American people. If they continue to do that, they will deserve all of the punishment they will surely get at the polls.