Filibuster designed to get broad agreement

I read with interest Lee Hamilton's column in Tuesday's Opinion section regarding the Senate filibuster. A senior adviser for the Indiana University Center on Representative Government should understand our form of government. His opinions clearly shows he does not.

The House is based on population. The Senate is based on statehood. That is designed to distribute the debate among the entire population.

The Senate, equalizes this debate to all sectors of the United States, ideas that come from large cities and small communities. Like many, he uses catch phases to generalized initiatives that have little to do with their legislative titles.

When he writes keeping "the nation's agenda from moving forward," he's not talking about the nations' agenda, he is talking about the agenda brought forward by one party. The Senate filibuster is designed to help make sure legislation is broadly acceptable. If six out of 10 cannot agree, that is the time for negotiation.

He closes "the hard work of finding broadly acceptable solutions" 51% should not be argued as broadly acceptable.

Tom Horstman

Arlington Heights