Commentary: The Senate filibuster rule is undermining democracy Frank S. Robinson FacebookTwitterEmail President Joe Biden pledged bipartisanship. But there seems to be no reciprocity. Democrats will have to work around Republicans. A big help would be ending the Senate filibuster. The Constitution apportions the House of Representatives by population, while in the Senate all states are represented equally. This was so big states couldn't dominate small ones. Unforeseen was how that would play out in a 50-state union with many small states. And importantly, big states are big because they have big cities; small states don’t, tending to be more rural. And whiter.