The Dangerous Framing of Congress as an Inept Community

[babylonsister]

http://www.rockridgeinstitute.org/research/rockridge/dangerous-framing-of-congress-as-inept-community

The Dangerous Framing of Congress as an Inept Community


by Glenn W. Smith


The day after U.S. Senate Democrats stayed up all night trying to force Republicans to stop their filibuster of a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, the Austin-American Statesman hard-copy headline read, "Senate Achieves Gridlock." The Hartford Courant headline read, "Gridlock on Iraq." Similar words were used by media throughout the country.

For those of us who want the withdrawal of troops to begin now (this means most Americans), the impasse in Washington is frustrating. But beneath this frustration – and media coverage of the battle in D.C. – runs a contempt for the institution of Congress that presents a grave threat to democracy.

snip//

The effectiveness of Congress must be continually monitored and reforms continually advanced. Congress is a human construction operated by humans. There will never be a perfect Congress, and a belief in the possibilities of collective action should never make us blind to deficiencies.

The political scientist David R. Mayhew suggested several attributes Congress should have to be effective in solving problems, keeping in mind that Congress has the additional complicating task of helping us agree on just what is a problem. Before the 1960s, for instance, many white Americans didn't see racial segregation as a problem. Among Mayhew's attributes are: transparency, independence, communality, diversity, understandability. Over the last several years, Congress doesn't score too well on any of these attributes. You can read his 2006 paper, Congress As Problem Solver , on his website.

Reforms are needed. Among those suggested by Mayhew are a greatly simplified budget process, non-partisan redistricting, and campaign reform. But none of these will be possible if American citizens believe the cause is futile because the idea of Congress is itself somehow flawed.

The media should stop its frequent characterization of Congress as an inept community. The temptation will always be there, because deliberative bodies are places of conflict and decision-taking. Congress' deliberations are public. The judicial branch is not typically described as inept, probably because its deliberations are private and the messy give-and-take that precedes opinions is seldom open for analysis. Media should cover the conflict as democracy-in-action, not as another example of community ineptitude. Media should also do their part to make the institution even more transparent, more visible to citizens. The rest of us should take seriously institutional reforms and press our representatives to pass them into law.

Framed as an inept community, Congress might lose its ability to stand in the way of ambitious tyrants who use our fondness for heroes and to weaken and possibly destroy our democracy.

[DCKit]

1. "Senate Achieves Gridlock."

Bwahahahahahaha!!!!!

[depakid]

2. If the shoe fits...

and in terms on meaningful action- or a semblance of a return to a balance of power, you'd be hard pressed to say it doesn't.

Mayhew may have good ideas- but public perception won't change until Congressional Democrats finally grow a spine and start enforcing some discipline within their party.

[bemildred]

3. This is actually an important point.

Congress is actually the 800 pound gorilla in US politics, as it appears we are about to see, but they prefer most of the time to pretend to be impotent and divided and stuff like that, because then they are allowed to enjoy the rewards of their positions in peace. It is up to us, the voting public, to light a fire under their asses if we want something done. Bush is a stooge. Chairs of congressional committees are the real thing.

[Demeter]

4. It's a Bad Case of Misplaced Priorities, Actually

What gets your average Congress Critter hot and bothered will never impact your life in any way, other than paying for it.

But said Congress Critters are supposed to be doing the nation's needs, not their own.
That's where the incompetence comes in. A competent Congress would do the nation's business.