In the unlikely event that you hear the word “filibuster” it likely evokes an image of a US senator. Odds are the senator you envision is male, and old. He stands in front of his fellow senators, who are also probably male, and old, reading something lengthy. For hours.
I was never particularly interested in politics, but I do recall seeing short clips on the evening news of a filibuster taking place (yes, I am old enough to remember when people watched the evening news). I did not really understand the details, but knew it was a tactic to delay, or block a vote. At times it was almost comical as what was being read did not matter. It could be a dictionary. It could be a list of ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. What mattered was that the senator refused to yield the floor and kept reading.
For better or worse, the senate changed its rules and now decides matters by a simple majority vote versus the much higher bar previously required. Those that follow politics would know that change by its name: the “nuclear option.” Whatever you wish to call it, this change effectively ended clips of a filibuster on your news feed.
As part of the research I have undertaken for my work of historical fiction I’ve become quite familiar with a version of the word that describes something completely different. That word is “filibustering.”
Truth be told, quickly after arriving in Costa Rica a decade ago I learned about an infamous US citizen who escaped mention in all my American history classes but is well-known to almost all Ticos. That man’s name was William Walker, and he is a classic example of a filibuster who was actively engaged in “filibustering.”
If you have visited Costa Rica there is a good chance that you arrived at the main airport in San Jose. You probably did not know it, but you too brushed up against the legend of William Walker. That airport is named after Juan Santamaria Rodriguez, a Costa Rican national hero who gave his life for his country. As the story goes, Juan Santamaria, a drummer boy in Costa Rica’s now defunct army, helped turn the tide against William Walker and his forces by setting fire to their stronghold in the second battle of Rivas.
Why William Walker was in Central America, and how he briefly became president of Nicaragua, is an amazing tale (I recommend the book Tycoon’s War for a great retelling of the saga). In short, Walker and others of his ilk were US citizens in the 19th century who decided that they needed to have countries of their own. In Walker’s case, he first tried to take over a portion of Mexico before the Mexican army ran him off. He tried again in Nicaragua and was briefly successful before being defeated by a combination of local forces, other US business interests and his own hubris.
Filibustering was largely an ego/power driven exercise, but it was also woven into the fabric of “manifest destiny” which had captured the imagination and patriotism of many US citizens. Indeed, each time a defeated Walker returned to the US he was celebrated as a hero.
In the here and now it may seem like a stretch that a regular US citizen could gather a private army to invade, and conquer, another country. However, the US baited Mexico into a war that ended in 1848 with the US taking roughly half of Mexico’s land (known now as states, such as California, Nevada, Arizona, etc.) Soaring on the wings of manifest destiny, the notion that Central America could also soon be taken into the US fold was, in the minds of many, not that much of a leap. And, as added inspiration, those who wished to continue the practice of slavery needed territory to do so. Towards the end of the civil war many southerners saw the writing on the wall and, although slavery was banned in Mexico and much of the rest of the world, William Walker was happy to allow slavery in what was to be his new kingdom.
Whether or not the filibuster rule changes in the US senate are viewed favorably is a matter for historians, politicians, and pundits. The practice of filibustering, however, has few, if any, defenders. In Walker’s specific case, his filibustering finally came to an end via a firing squad in Honduras — his final attempt at creating a kingdom.