In the umpteenth liberal column urging the president to “get tough” and “fight back” and “pass the damn bill,” Richard Cohen writes: “What’s wrong with the old belief — a virtual childhood mantra — that ‘majority rules’?”

Good question! Let’s take a moment for a basic civics lesson. The United States is not a unicameral majoritarian democracy. It is a bicameral constitutional republic with minority rights, checks and balances, and dispersed power. The majority does not rule. Why? Because the Founders sought to guard against what Tocqueville called the “tyranny of the majority.” Liberals can bemoan this fact all they want. In order to change it, however, they would have to enact real change to the Constitution and the rules of the U.S. Senate. Good luck with that.