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For the public, the Senate has lost most of the entertainment value which it had in an earlier day of fewer diversions, when people followed the varied Senate debate with delight and wonder. It also has lost some of its former function as the country's educator in public issues: such education comes from many other sources now. But it retains considerable influence on national opinion, and Professor James MacGregor Burns, for one, believes that this influence is more important than its old formal power in the checks-and-balances system. "What the President wants today is the advice and consent of the American people," says Burns. "The Senate is important to any President in how it affects this advice and consent."
Senators never wholly forget their ancient charge and tradition—there are still snuffboxes at the Senate lobby entrance, sand for blotting letters on every desk, quill pens available on demand. The Senate roster also still retains a collection of first names not to be found in any other body and surpassing even the cast of characters in a 19th century novel—Ross, Birch, Caleb, Gordon, Norris, Hiram, Bourke, Lister, Spessard, Roman, Gale, Thruston, Claiborne, Winston, Leverett, Strom, Harrison. This assemblage is still magisterial in form if not in substance, still flinging its sounding periods into the stillness of the Congressional Record or the empty seats of the chamber, less magnificent in its manners and less admired for its oratory, indulgent of itself and critical of others, but serving its function—as challenge, check and, if need be, support to the U.S. presidency.