Historically, the minority didn't use the power to prevent a bill from being brought up for debate. I think that practice started becoming common around 2008 or so.
Anyway, a determined group of 41 senators can still block passage of anything. And, FWIW, the power to block bringing something to the floor was useless. The senate would often debate the bill, even though it wasn't up for consideration.
As for what the founders intended, I am quite sure they did not intend for a minority of the senate to control.
Looks like there's a lot of hyper-ventilating for nothing.