Krugman on the Similarities Between the Senate and Poland

Monday’s New York Times op-ed by Krugman caught my attention:

A brief history lesson: In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Polish legislature, the Sejm, operated on the unanimity principle: any member could nullify legislation by shouting “I do not allow!” This made the nation largely ungovernable, and neighboring regimes began hacking off pieces of its territory. By 1795 Poland had disappeared, not to re-emerge for more than a century.

Today, the U.S. Senate seems determined to make the Sejm look good by comparison.

Krugman goes on to mention Senator Shelby’s (R-AL) current antics of blocking several of Obama’s nominees, allegedly while waiting for some earmark money to be released, and for a major military contract to be awarded to an Alabama factory.   Krugman’s conclusion: since the Senate has mostly done away with its old traditions of comity and consensus, perhaps it’s time to relax some of the old rules…and that a vote for a Republican is a vote for paralysis.

I wonder if Krugman would have written this column if the GOP had a majority in the Senate.  Or would he have been among those touting the stability benefits of retaining the Senate’s rules on filibusters.

That aside…he does have a point.  While I find the notion of the federal government being limited in the mischief that it can cause, petty tactics such as holding up the nomination process in return for funds for constituents definitely seem over the line.