Do We Really Need a Senate?

As I watch the health-care debacle unfold in Washington, I can't help but wonder: Do we really need a Senate? Apparently, I am not the first person to have had this idea. It seems the Founding Fathers debated the notion of a unicameral legislature, but under the influence of the British system, felt that something similar to the House of Lords was needed. Also, the smaller states involved in forming the U.S. wanted a way to have more power. A legislative branch based only on population would place them at a great disadvantage. So a compromise was reached and the U.S. Senate is the result of that compromise. The idea is that if the people just had their way (through the House of Representatives) they might be passing all sorts of nonsense (such as a health-care bill within a few days instead of the root-canal procedure now being practiced in the Senate) that they might later regret. This is the Senate as "cooler heads" theory. So the result is this farce we see going on now, where the will of the people is being thwarted everyday by some new senator who is described as being the key to success or failure of health-care reform.