Advocates of the Senate filibuster can be proud of one thing. They have successfully carried out an extraordinarily effective propaganda campaign. They have convinced much of the country — and, more importantly, many members of the Senate itself — to believe in a completely made-up version of American history.
The imaginary history has been repeated so often that people “know” it to be true and can rattle off its fictional elements when pressed to supply a reason why they support an institution that no overseas democracy, and none of the 50 state governments, have copied. Here is Senator Kyrsten Sinema, speaking to reporters Wednesday, repeating a version of this fake history:
“The filibuster was not created to accomplish one thing or another. It was created to bring together members of different parties to find compromise and coalition.”
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