How systematic?

When Lyndon Baines Johnson was the Senate majority leader in the contentious 1950s -- an era of Cold War, segregation, recession and debates over everything from space travel to statehood for Alaska -- he only had to file one cloture motion to end a filibuster.

Since Harry Reid became Senate minority leader in 2007, he has had to file 420 cloture motions to end filibusters. And while he usually has majority support for acting on a bill or an appointment, he rarely has the 60-vote super-majority required by McConnell.

"The Senate is not the House and the minority party must be treated with respect and given the opportunity to offer amendments and make their case in opposition," says Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont. "A minority must not, however, be allowed to permanently obstruct the wishes of the majority. That is not democracy. That is a perversion of democracy."

The question of whether McConnell will be able to maintain his fourth branch of government, and with it what Sanders describes as "the tyranny of the minority," may well come to a head Tuesday.

Reid has scheduled confirmation votes on seven presidential picks: National Labor Relations Board members, as well as nominees to head the Labor Department, the Export-Import Bank, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

If McConnell and his caucus abuse the filibuster in order to block those votes, Reid says he will ask the Democratic majority -- and any Republicans who might favor majority rule -- to end the tyranny of the minority when it comes to the appointment process.

The majority leader, who has blinked in previous wrangling over rules reforms to end the abuse of the filibuster, seems finally to be prepared to take the small step of changing Senate rules -- with the approval of a majority of senators -- to allow a majority of senators to demand simple up-or-down votes on whether to confirm presidential appointments.

"This is really a moment in history that circumstances dictate a change," says the majority leader.

Reid notes that a mere 20 nominees were filibustered during the history of the republic up to the election of President Obama.  Now, says the majority leader, Republicans have filibustered 15 of Obama's executive-branch nominees.

"The changes we're making are very, very minimal," says Reid. "What we're doing is saying, "Look American people, shouldn't President Obama have somebody working for him that he wants?' The 15 people that we've filed cloture on that are pending they've been waiting an average of nine months."

McConnell is already crying foul, and Washington is ablaze with "Reid-McConnell Relationship Hits New Low" headlines. If Reid moves on Tuesday to restrict the Kentucky Republican's obstructionism, McConnell says the Nevada Democrat will go down "as the worst leader here ever."

McConnell knows better. But he is furious about the prospect that his rogue operations might be restricted.

So be it.

America needs a functioning Senate, and a functioning federal government, not Mitch McConnell's "tyranny of the minority."

As Sanders says, "This country faces major crises. The American people want us to act to address unemployment and the economy. They want us to deal with the global warming, health care, campaign finance reform, education, crumbling infrastructure and the deficit. But in my view, none of these problems will be effectively addressed so long as a single senator may demand 60 votes to pass legislation (or approve nominees)."

Anti-immigration reform activists protested on Capitol Hill today, complete with nativist signs and racist speeches.