John Sarbanes: “In fact, when the Senator from Oklahoma was speaking, he was making the point how people would come from other…”

“In fact, when the Senator from Oklahoma was speaking, he was making the point how people would come from other countries, particularly fledgling democracies, to see the Congress of the United States, particularly the Senate, and how we wanted them to draw the right lessons from seeing the Senate. One of the most important lessons they need to draw in the fledgling democracies is the necessity of respecting the rights of the minority. In instance after instance, they have been prepared to exercise the majority rule but they are unwilling in these emerging democracies to accord proper respect to the minorities within them which, of course, are also an essential part of making a democracy work. That essentially is all we are seeking to do in this instance. I repeat what I said before. For the life of me, I cannot understand why we cannot reach agreement in short order since what this side of the aisle is seeking is simply reciprocity, seeking to be treated now as the minority the way we were willing to treat the other side when they were in the minority in the last Congress.”