Wonks Anonymous recognizes that there may be strong arguments for super majority rules and other legislative procedures and traditions the require consensus decision making. Wonks Anonymous, in fact, works for a fine organization that emphasizes consensus decision making.

That being said consensus decision making requires a great deal of self restraint in order to function properly. In particular members of a deliberative body should not exploit their power to block action on important measures to secure their own narrow interests. A Senator should not stop a Health Care Reform in its tracks in order to get special payments for their states and it is certainly no acceptable for individual Senators to block Presidential appointments in order to get approval of earmarks for their states.

Yet this sort of nonsense is happening right now - see Krugman's summary and comments. And, aside from Krugman and other bitter old liberals, it is virtually unnoticed because, guess what, the people who are obstructing government for personal gain are either Republicans or so called moderate Democrats. Everybody knows that the press corps and the pundisphere is unable to write a criticism of a politics unless they can start with the phrase: Both sides share the blame.

Good conservatives who support the arcane and antiquated institutions of the Senate should realize that these institutions will be eliminated or the country will be ruined unless the Senate and the conservative movement learns to police itself. One of the most effective tools to promote self restraint is public shame.

How can we expect to get the "better class of moderate" that Ross Douthat claims to want if Douthat and his friends are unwilling to call out various Republicans and conservatives on their destructive antics?