Deal of Doom?

This deal -- judges, filibusters -- is a small piece of the puzzle: we are, as Newberry puts its, burning through our accumulated political capital and good will at an alarming rate. The end of this process, decline of a functional republic, is not certain, but whether it is Roman Empire, or Italian Father-State, or Sith Lord, it is not the decent and just society to which we have aspired.