The Democrats in the senate do negotiate with terrorists. That’s the short of it. They’re willing to legitimize the threat to dismantle minority rights by buying it off, thereby neutering the protections. And the American people as a whole are more fond of the schoolyard bully than the bullied. A principled approach of “The Republicans have made heavy use of this tactic in the past and are now disarming it for their current political advantage. We think this is the wrong way to conduct the country’s business, and will not legitimize their terrorist threat to reshape the government at their whim by giving them what they want.” I could certainly see the senate Republicans removing the fillibuster for as long as they retain a majority, then on the eve of losing a majority switching the rules so that 80% (or some other ridiculous number) is required to a) break a fillibuster and b) change senate rules.
The sad thing is, I don’t think much better of the Democrats in terms of adhering to principle v chasing power. What they all seem to have missed is why the rules were put there in the first place. Riots in the street are never pretty. Fuck the two party system. If nobody has a majority, nobody runs the show alone. Proportional representation and instant run-off voting are where it should be at. And while we’re at it, why not a national referendum with a 2/3 threshold? And a pony. Definitely a pony.