More than half of us want to see action on gun control, but nobody I know expects Congress to pass a law. It cannot. With few exceptions, Congress is devoid of leaders. Most members on both sides plan their every move with the next election in mind. And they do not have the time to develop legislation because they are too busy fundraising, posting on social media, or trying to get on Fox or MSNBC. It is sad, but that’s only part of the story.
Somehow the quality of people serving in Congress is declining. Missouri once sent Stuart Symington to the Senate. Today fist-pumping Josh Hawley represents it. At least two members of the House of Representatives are openly anti semitic, Representatives Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Omar Ilhan (D-MN). Tlaib accused Jews serving in Congress of dual loyalty, suggesting they may be more loyal to Israel than to the United States. “They forget who they represent,” she said.
Omar Ilhan is also accused of antisemitism, but is also known for selling t-shirts reading, “F**k around and find out” on her campaign website. Ilhan is not known for her legislative leadership or her ability to collaborate with Republicans.
On the Republican side, more than a dozen members regularly contribute to the destruction of the credibility, and to the worsening dysfunction, of Congress. The list includes gun fanatic Lauren Boebert (R-CO), QAnon follower Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), and, of course, Matt Gaetz (R-FL), who has been accused of sex trafficking. Other Republicans are accused of complicity in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol.
Misbehaving members of Congress are nothing new. Memories of Wayne Hays (D-OH) affair with employee Elizabeth Ray come to mind. Jim Traficant (D-OH) was expelled from the House and served seven years in prison for taking bribes, racketeering, and having staff members perform chores on his farm. Remember Wilber Mills (D-AR) and the “Argentine Firecracker,” Fanne Foxe?
There will be future episodes of bad judgment, alcohol abuse, and plain stupidity involving congresspersons and senators. Those episodes, too, will injure the credibility of Congress. But today we see something worse. We see members of Congress openly disobeying the rules Congress sets for itself. Consider the case of House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA). As widely expected, he has effectively announced he won’t comply with the subpoena he received from the House Select Committee on the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol. Other subpoenaed Republicans are expected to follow suit. Their plan: Attack the legitimacy of the Committee, make unrealistic demands in exchange for testifying, and run out the clock until Congress adjourns for the year.
McCarthy and the Republicans actions seriously injure Congress for multiple reasons. Among them are openly violating the legitimate request of a duly created committee and seeking to subvert the work of Congress in investigating the most serious threat to democracy in recent times. An extremely dangerous precedent is being established that may please Donald Trump in the short term but will lead to favors being returned in future Congresses.
In eight months, Congress may very well be in Republican control. Mr. McCarthy is expected by many to be elected Speaker. Will he, as members of the Freedom Caucus and Donald Trump have suggested, proceed to impeach President Biden? Unfortunately, the odds are better than 50-50.
Members of Congress of both parties have become increasingly comfortable with open political warfare. Efforts to find common ground are now uncommon. Political fights are not resolved in Congress but fought out in the media. Lying has now become the norm. Members caught in lies no longer fear accountability. You get the idea.
I wonder if all is not lost—if Congress and representational democracy is not living on borrowed time. If it is, get ready for more Donald Trumps and worse (yes, that is possible). The only thing that can save democracy is for the people to start exercising it. That means people following Congress and government closer and holding those who undermine democracy accountable. That means voting members of Congress and senators who are not civil, do not focus on the common good, and who otherwise violate common decency out.
The American people rid itself of Donald Trump in the 2020 election. Today 76 percent of Americans disapprove of how Congress is doing its job. Congress needs to reform itself or get ready to go out of business.
J.E. Dean is a retired attorney and public affairs consultant writing on politics, government, birds, and other subjects.
Bill Barron says
I enjoyed your very thoughtful treatment of this subject. Clearly, Congress no longer represents the will of the people it is elected to serve. Decisions on many of the most important legislative initiatives are DOA, having been quashed in Committee hearings or tabled by the “Leadership” despite unambiguous public support for some action; gun control and access to abortion come to mind. You’ve called out several key contributors to the problem, key among them the need to be reelected. But there are other, more systemic factors that also separate voters from their representatives. These are the arcane, mostly non-mandated customs and practices that govern operation of both House and Senate. One of these is the concept of seniority. Why should a legislator’s power increase each time he’s reelected? Why should your senator have a better shot at a committee chairmanship than mine? Why a bigger office? And, speaking of committee chairmen, why should they have such power as to be able to single-handedly control the future of a piece of legislation. Bud Schuster (R-PA, Chairman House Transportation Committee in the 90’s) comes to mind as a notorious example….where federal lucre was being spent, you couldn’t fill a pothole without his imprimatur, which he wielded like a political light-sabre. And, of course, Pennsylvania highway projects always got the greenlight.
There are other institutionalized norms whose combined effect is to create a political upper caste accustomed to all the benefits of power and privilege:
Lack of Term Limits:The main task of elected members of congress is to get reelected, which requires money, in return for which they make promises not always aligned with democratic goals. It’s argued t that term limits are actually counter to voters’ will and that “experience” is important to a legislator’s value. Experience at what? Raising money? Becoming skilled at the use of nefarious schemes for promoting pet projects or sneaking midnight clauses into massive bills too big to read?
Big Money: All sides do it; Big business and conservative PACs for Republicans. Big unions, other big business(tech), Hollywood, liberal PACs for the Dems.
Gerrymandering: All sides complain but both sides openly adopt the practice where they have the majority to do so, even with people looking and even here in Maryland. Just look at the very overt, unabashed and successful attempts by Maryland Democrats to unseat Roscoe Barnett in the 6th District a few years back. More recently, they’ve gone after Andy Harris with a ridiculously-shaped redistricting plan that grabbed little pieces of the western shore; I recognize that, in many eyes, Harris is no prince but their plan was nuts, driven not by a desire to improve anyone’s life, but instead by pure partisan politics.
Sadly, Congress makes its own rules and is unlikely to make any substantive changes which might threaten their seats or their perks. Partisan politics is driving our legislative process off the rails with an ugly discourse peppered with character attacks and language that would make a bos’n blush. So I, too, am very concerned that, for the foreseeable future, we’re in for more chaos and stasis from Capitol Hill.