'Republicans Should Change the Rules'

Real journalism: fair and balanced. That's why we're No. 1 - FOX News Channel.

Watch After Hours
with Cal Thomas
Saturdays at 11 p.m. ET

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10-8 Thursday to approve Judge William Myers (search) for a seat on the federal bench. The second effort by President Bush to promote Myers goes to the Senate, where Republicans will decide whether to use what has come to be known as the "nuclear option."

But it is nothing of the kind. It is simply a return to majority rule and dumping the 60-vote majority that has been required to stop a filibuster, which stymies majority will.

Whether they now have a 60-vote majority, or not, Republicans should change the rules so they reflect the constitutional intentions of the founders.

If they cower in the face of democratic bluster, what good is a majority?

Rather than accept "majority rule," Democrats are threatening to shut down the Senate if the rules they made are changed. Let them.

Republicans remember when they forced a government shutdown a decade ago and how that event hurt them with the public.

It is likely that such petulance by Democrats will have the same affect on public opinion and their party as it had a decade ago on Republicans and their party.

Despite the fuming of Senators like West Virginia's Robert Byrd, Republicans are not trying to damage the Constitution, but uphold it.

As former White House counsel C. Boyden Gray has said, "What we are doing is not changing rules, but restoring the status quo that existed for some 200-odd years."

The public is rightly growing tired of these inside-the-beltway political games.

From same-sex marriage, to abortion, to less controversial issues, judges have imposed their views on the law instead of allowing the people, through their elected representatives, to make law.

Republicans have a rare opportunity to restore our government to reflect the original vision of those who wrote the Constitution. They had better seize that opportunity, or they will be sorry.

And that's Column One for this week.

To check out more Column One features, click here.

What do you think? Send your responses to: afterhours@foxnews.com.