Any proposal put forward by the Super Congress created by the debt ceiling deal can’t be amended and must receive an up-or-down vote in both chambers of the Congress. This means whatever package this small group of members comes up with can’t be filibustered. If there was every any doubt that the main reason the filibuster still exists is to stop progressive legislation, that should be gone.

Stopping the Senate from reforming its terrible rules has nothing to do with preserving Senate traditions or allowing Democrats to protect their priorities when they are in the minority. When the forces of conservatism want to get their agenda passed, they find a way. Whether it is using reconciliation to pass the Bush tax cuts or creating a Super Congress to force austerity on the country, the rules be damned.

The filibuster’s only role now is to serve as an excuse for elected Democrats when they fail to deliver what they promised to their base. Clearly, the creation of this Super Congress proves provides no guarantee that it will protect Medicare or Social Security.

There is one set of rules when the regular people overwhelmingly want something that the big corporations oppose, like a public option or drug re-importation. There is another set of rules when the rich want to force something on the country, even that which the regular people strongly oppose, like cutting Social Security benefits.