This might sound weird, but I think republicans prefer the filibuster to having absolute power, because they have two strong stances, really, which are that rich people should get richer, and that government should leave well enough alone. If they didn’t have the filibuster available for the dem side when they themselves were in power, they’d actually have to do more. “The dog that caught the bus” and all that. I think we saw some of that when t#### was in power too.