Use of the Filibuster

The filibuster is a delaying tactic, a means whereby a group of legislators who are certain of defeat on an issue if it is called to a vote use various means to prevent that event from occurring. The origins of the filibuster emerged from the acrimonious debates of the ancient Roman Senate; bringing reasoned debate (and effective rule) to a crunching halt, the filibuster was one of the factors allowing the emergence of a strong Consul branch of the Roman Republic, later to fortify its power in the form of the Emperor's position: thus, while the Roman Senate debated or filibustered its time away, the executive branch ruled.

The U.S. Senate obtained the use of the filibuster in 1801 when it adopted Thomas Jefferson's Manual on Parliamentary Pract

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self-discipline and inhuman stamina by clean living. The organized filibuster effort is the parliamentary tactic that has created the most impact, its most recent success being the derailment of the aforementioned Clinton stimulus package. As a strategic move, the organized filibuster has several parliamentary nuances in its favor. To begin with, it starts with the ability of the filibustering Senator to yield to a question by a sympathetic senator without yielding the debate floor. Consequently, the senator ostensibly holding the floor is allowed to leave the building while a colleague questions him at rhetorical length; in fact, the Senate may be recessed overnight during a questioning period, allowing an organized filibuster leader to hold the floor as long as his allies have the stamina to support him. Using this variation, senators allied with particular minority voting blocs have been able to wield influence over larger pieces of legislature by threatening to hold up the business of the Senate indefinitely. On this point, in fact, Woodrow Wilson as president reversed his earlier respect for the filibuster when, in 1917, the method was used to stall his military preparations for the United States' entry into World War
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2125
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)

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