DADT ends, but so does the DREAM

Well, the U.S. Senate effectively ended "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" yesterday. That's impressive. If the Democrats had acted like this during the past year and a half, maybe they wouldn't have been defeated so badly last month.

Since the House of Representatives has already passed the bill - trying to get something accomplished before the GOP takes over next year - this will go to President Obama's desk and be signed into law next week. Good job! It took awhile, but better late than never.

The final vote was 65 to 31, with eight Republicans voting with the majority. Ironically, only six of them were brave enough to vote against the Republican filibuster, which has become the real vote in the Senate (any bill that can overcome nonstop filibustering by the GOP is all but guaranteed to pass). Personally, I think that's unconstitutional, but I've blogged about that before.

And this isn't a post about Democratic spinelessness, not today. Today, they can be proud of what they've done. Expect the right-wing to start frothing at the mouth (almost the best part of this).

Unfortunately, the DREAM Act died yesterday, on a vote of 55 to 41. Note that that's 55 Yes votes, in favor of passing the act, and only 41 against. But majority vote means nothing in the U.S. Senate anymore. You need a super-majority to pass anything (which is, as I say, completely unconstitutional).

This was a bipartisan bill when it was first introduced in the Senate in 2007 (by, among others, Nebraska's Republican senator at the time, Chuck Hagel). But as the whole GOP has run hysterically to the right since then, only three senate Republicans were brave enough to break party lines on the filibuster yesterday, and two of those had already been repudiated ("refudiated"?) by rabid Tea Partiers in GOP primaries this year.

Yesterday, both of Nebraska's senators voted to maintain the filibuster against this superb bill, including Republican wannabe Ben Nelson, quite possibly the worst Democrat in Congress. Remember, we're just talking about allowing the Senate to vote on the bill itself - which would have passed, comfortably. (There's something seriously wrong with the Senate these days, and it's not what our founding fathers intended.)

Furthermore, the denial of the DREAM Act just shows how hysterical we've become about illegal immigration in this country, and how far we've retreated from our principles. We used to be a nation where immigrants were welcome. Now, we shoot ourselves in the foot when it comes to anything dealing with immigration, even the most reasonable and timid little reform you could imagine.

So,... one small step forward yesterday, but no more than that. We Americans need to be marching forward, proudly, boldly, consistently. One timid little step is much better than nothing, of course, but I'm afraid it's not nearly good enough. We are a nation in decline, and we seem determined to continue on that path.

But today we should celebrate. If we can do one thing right, we can do others. It's not easy - in fact, it's damned hard - but it is possible, as long as we don't give up.