Dear President Biden:

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The time has come to put people before procedure.

I think everyone has heard this about President Joe Biden. He spent more than 30 years in the Senate and has a great deal of respect for that institution and its traditions. That may be true but he needs to move past that. The time has come to look at those traditions and jettison those that are hampering things from being done to make the country better.

1. The filibuster needs to be reformed. Note: I did not say “abolished.” Way back in 2013, I wrote a piece for The Daily Banter, “In defense of the filibuster.” In that article, I cited Thomas Jefferson’s first inaugural address in which he said, “All, too, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority is in all cases to prevail, that will to be rightful must be reasonable; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal law must protect, and to violate would be oppression.” That, to me, was the essence of the filibuster but not as it is used today. Today, the GOP uses to block Democrats at every turn. Keep in mind, the first filibuster took place in 1837, hardly during the time of Hamilton and Jefferson. Moreover, it was changed numerous times in the 1900s. It’s time to change it to make the Senate function. Some of my progressive friends think the Democrats don’t actually want to get anything done. If…