Say what you will about Americans, and one can say many things, this is a
country of deeply democratic sensibilities. The idea that we are, or
are supposed to be, a democratic society is at the very core of what
makes us proud to be Americans. If Occupy Wall Street has spread to
every city in America, it’s because our financial overlords have brought
us to such a pass that anarchists, pagan priestesses, and tree-sitters
are about the only Americans left still holding out for the idea that a
genuinely democratic society might be possible.
The 60-vote rule to end a filibuster led to anarchy
The conventional response to this was to insist that the Democrats
didn’t really control both houses because the Senate rules had changed,
irresponsible use of the Filibuster meant that a 60-vote majority was
required. This only makes sense if one assumes that any minority party,
at any previous period of American history, could have gotten rid of
majority rule and moved to a 60% system had they really wanted to, but
somehow chose not to do so—which is obviously absurd. If the Republicans
got away with it in 2008 it’s because the Democrats decided not to make
a major issue an unprecedented opposition policy of systematically
violating all previous tacit Senate rules.
Anarchy evolved to Occupy Wall Street
Excerpted from Naked Capitalism/David Graeber - my orientation in bold
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