Carl P. Leubsdorf The Dallas Morning News To many Americans, the rules that permit the Senateâs majority to be held hostage by its minority represent the worst of all worlds, making an inherently undemocratic legislative body even more so. As a result, since the late 1940s, successive generations of liberal senators have regularly sought to revise the procedures for limiting extended Senate debate â known as a filibuster â that enable a minority of senators to keep the majority from acting. The debate was renewed this year because the Senateâs slim Democratic majority â 50 senators plus Vice President Kamala Harris â fears that, without rules reform, the Republican minority will block many of its measures that polls show most Americans support -- election reform, gun control, an increased minimum wage, higher taxes on the wealthy and revision of immigration laws.