Can Congress push the NFL out of being a League of Denial?
Many of you missed the extra-credit opportunity today on which function was illustrated in this House Judiciary Committee investigative hearing of the National Football League and traumatic brain injuries. While the NFL is not part of the executive branch of government, this was oversight function of Congress. At the end of these investigative hearings, the committee could recomend, for example, that the NFL loses its federal anti-trust protection if it did not become more transparent on the dangers of its game. It also could have advised the executive branch justice department to take legal action against the NFL.
At the end of the 2009 hearings, the NFL did become more transparent about football's head injuries. So one might say that this oversight function was successful.
However, as we ready ourselves for our lawmaking function , yet another knowlege drop that might keep you feeling frustrated with our Congress linked here. Read Matt Taibbi's Four Weddings and a Funeral (2005) and comment your thoughts here for a 3-point assignment. Also make sure you come in Monday with an idea for a bill and a co-sponsor to work with.
36 comments:
Pei
said...
Congress isn't necessarily "corrupt", it's just full of old men who are antiquated. Similar to the video we watched in class, the word compromise seems to have lost all meaning. Instead, it is just rampant bullying and thinly veiled threats against each other while being too stubborn to change anything. It's a circus in Congress.
It's disgusting that in a democratic government, our legislatures cannot come to a single compromise. They spend all of their time bickering over small, minuscule details instead of solving problems that challenge the whole nation. Even when they do finally pass a law or any legislation it is so bogged down with riders and pork-barrel projects that it is barely recognizable as the bill that it was when it first arrived at Capitol Hill. I understand that Congress is purposefully built to move slowly and deliberately so that no rash decisions are made, but at the rate we are going no decisions are being made at all, rash or not. Anna L.
I agree with Pei's comment about compromise. The congress has a representative function and a lawmaking function. If Congress could just focus on the lawmaking function maybe their ways would be a bit more democratic-- there would be logrolling still-- but not as much pork because they wouldn't be worried about being re-elected. However with the current system, being re-elected is every Congressman's goal; therefore, they have to add pork barrel projects and riders to amendments to help their constituency.Therefore it's not necessarily the system that is corrupt, it's more this has been the standard to get legislation passed. If people do not want all of this bullying then Congress's roles need to be reformed.
I agree with the previous comments that are frustrated with the lack of ability to compromise in congress. It's really sad that nothing gets done because those with the most power are more concerned with keeping their power and helping their own party than being productive. I know the Founding Fathers meant for congress to be a long and to have deliberation, but I don't think they ever meant for it to become like this, where it's all about reelection over actual productivity and bettering the lives of the people.
I think it's sad that legislators get paid the big bucks and get so many perks, but they don't do any work to deserve them. I honestly believe most politicians go into politics for themselves, not for their constituents. This is why they are so stubborn and only do work that will help them get reelected. It's like what you said Mr. Wolak, as soon as they find out you're not in their district, they want nothing to do with you. The same goes for bills that serve no purpose to them. And the bills that do impact them, they refuse to compromise on because of their loyalties to their parties. And they wonder why they have a 9% approval rate?
I know that everyone hates how congress can't compromise, but I'm not going to try and beat a dead horse. I think part of the problem is that congress just can't possibly represent everything people wish they would, and still somehow manage to compromise. While I'm not saying that congress isn't at fault, the people who elect them can always vote for a different representative, which begs the question, why don't they?
The way Taibbi ended that article was right on point: "The deck is stacked just enough to make sure that nothing ever changes. But just enough is left to chance to make sure that hope never completely dies out." Congress talks about all these reforms but never pulls the trigger. They only do what is best for themselves and their careers. $223 million for 50 people? Thats a lot of pork
I think this article showed us the fundamental flaw of Congress. The concept of personal gain. Our founders worked tirelessly to conceive a government that would aid the common man, and benefit everyone. Now, when we try to pass a bill that would help lives, our representatives take it upon themselves to fight about the details and add to pork to useful bills. I also think party adherence plays a big role in this. I think Congress should focus on their legislative ability to ensure that bills are passed in a efficient manner, so that change comes when it is needed. Right now, the process is way to slow and our reputation on the international and domestic strata is on the line.
I really think that this article clearly highlights both personal gain as well as the issue of compromise. Congress spends majority of it's time sticking to their parties views even if the bill would have no negative effect on them whatsoever. By sticking to their parties views and trying to please their constituents so that they can get reelected, the legislators don't pass anything and coming to a compromise is almost never an option to them! On top of all of this, when a crucial bill needs to be passed in order for the betterment of the nation, our legislators and more concerned about adding pork on so that they get reelected. The biggest concern for them is their seat, not the country's needs.
One thing that this article talked about that I really noticed was the part about the House Rules Committee. One of the only ways that legislators can influence this group is by shaming them into calling for a vote. That is really sad that the House Rules Committee can only be affected by outside parties through the use of shaming. Even though the people who are on the committee might have a different opinion then a person proposing a bill, they should still consider it to an extent.
I am going to try not to be too cynical here, but reading things like this kind of takes away any notion that our government does things that actually benefit anyone but themselves. They really don't care about their constituents; they care about reelection. And usually money, which comes either through completely illegal means, or in the form of pork. The system is designed not to pass anything that someone higher up doesn't benefit from. It's sad, yes. Do I have hope that it will ever change? Sorry, but not really.
I believe the inability to compromise in Congress stems from two factors. The first being getting reelected, and the second being that every member of Congress has their own idea of what is best for the country, to which they believe they were elected to represent. This being said, my opinion is that the majority Congress believes they have the countries best interest at heart, and that by not compromising they are representing their constituents who voted for them and what they stand for. Everyone is bashing Congress for passing pork legislation, but the fact is that we all love pork legislation, when it benefits us that is. So maybe it's the voters who are selfish. After all, they do seem to reelect their representatives who pass pieces of pork legislation all the time.
Taibbi proved that the public's opinions about Congress was spot on. Like how we have talked about it in class, all politicians care about is getting reelected. They only care about getting their constituents' votes, so they can continue to get their big fat checks for doing absolutely nothing. It sounds like a great job; you get paid for doing pretty much nothing, but it's not so great when the decisions that they make effect the lives of the citizens. Taibbi called Congress "...an evil, adult version of Schoolhouse Rock", and I couldn't agree more.
This is basically a national example of what Mr. King told us about Chelsea's Law, except that now I realize how lucky he was to be able to get that bill passed. As we follow Sanders's story, it becomes easier to see that there really is no "system" to Congress. Everything is rushed, shady, and completely not bipartisan. I mean, no one really expects Congress to make sense or be fair, but this is something else entirely. I'm really surprised Sanders just hasn't given up. As much as we focused on the fact that Congress members are there to help their constituency, I think that most Congressmen honestly have no idea whats going on, especially the ones not seated in powerful committees behind closed doors. Thus, their constituencies have even less of an idea as to whats going on. Honestly, getting anything passed in Congress involves two things: money and luck.
I think to a certain extent pork barreling is actually a good thing. Yes sometimes politicians use our money like idiots and build bridges to nowhere, but I think pork barreling reflects one duty they were elected to do; take care of their state. Every congressman/woman has duties to improve their state and try to benefit the country as a whole. So when congressmen/women pork barrel a very important national bill with small state bills, its like they are killing 2 birds with one stone. While deals and logrolling sounds shady, it is really just a normal human interaction. People are naturally corrupt and will do anything to achieve their goal. But this may not be to bad, because if the congressman/woman's goal is to be re-elected, that means they must get bills passed for their states by making deals with other congressman, to help their state. This vote trading helps 2 states, and in turn will eventually help the nation.
I think that Taibbi really pointed out in this article Congress's main initiative--to get reelected, and maintain their seats. However, I think Congress does care about the constituents. Or rather, each Congressperson cares about their own constituents. This makes sense because by pleasing the people that they represent, they will have a better chance of getting reelected. I think that so much of each Congressperson's focus is put on their individual agendas and needs for their constituents that Congress stops functioning as a whole body of one serving an entire county, and instead is working as many individuals representing their groups of people. This makes passing legislation made for the entire country rather difficult, and shows just how much the people of Congress are doing to get reelected.
It's all about politics and not actually serving the people. Congressmen are still more focused on their job and passing bills that will place them in advantageous situations of being re-elected or receiving aid from special interest groups. I completely agree with Anna. The point of being careful and mindful of legislative action versus inefficiency has been crossed. Congress needs to reform the sabotage, mind-games, and drawn out feuds and be more focus minded on bring the proper change for the nation of America.
I agree with most of the previous posts along the lines of how our legislative system doesn't compromise enough. It is ridicules that our lawmakers cant agree on anything without adding some little policies just to help get their name out to the people so they can get reelected next time to pull off the same stunt. I understand that the lawmakers may have their home communities in mind and that they are trying to help them out, but they should be helping the country run as a whole without any problems first and let their local governments deal with the issues in the area. Isn't that why we have federal and state governments?
I agree with White's comment about the ups and downs of pork spending. Yes, some may sound very extreme and useless but these lawmakers are just representing their constituents, which is one of the main things they do to get re-elected. This may sound very selfish but that's just how people are, they do what they can in order to keep their job.
One thing about our congress that I really didn't like was the section about the lobbyist leprechaun games and all the loop holes they make in order to get lawmakers on their side. I thought the section about reserved seats for Wizards/Capitals games costing 50 cents below the congressional rule was a little ridiculous but shows that lobbyists will do whatever they can to get around rules and get lawmakers on their side.
I believe it is terrible that congress cant compromise, and that our congress functions more as a place to get re-elected rather than a place to get work done; But that begs the question, does congress really deserve all the blame? I believe we must also reflect on the fact that WE are the people who re-elect these reps in every election, and that by doing that, we are condoning congresses current actions. If we really want change in congress, we must accept our own fault in this, and make change for ourselves by voting differently.
I agree with the comments above, with how congress needs to learn how to compromise. There is too much emphasis on being reelected that nobody on Capitol Hill is able to work together, even if in the same party. Sometimes congress needs to stop throwing pork around and actually get to the primary lawmaking function they were meant to do, instead of playing this political game.
Although there are many members of Congress that actually care about the well being of this country, a lot of them are just looking out for themselves. They are passing pork barrel legislature because they want to have a good reputation with their people, and they do not care that they are spending $223 million of the people's money. And besides wasting the country's money for their own benefit, they refuse to compromise on issues that actually have great importance, such as Obamacare. Congress is functioning at its minimum. It is necessary for America for Congressmen to think more about how to make this country better (improve the environment, save money, pay off the debt, etc).
It seems as though the common trend has been that legislators in Congress should watch their own backs, and not worry about anyone else's. Congress is no longer a system of collective agreement, but a system of individual bickering. I believe that we the people can do something about this. When electing our members of Congress, choosing the candidate that will do better for the benefit of compromise, instead of the one that promises to give us individual "rights". I don't know about you, but I would rather have a congressman who helps in the process of lowering the debt, keeping funds in education, and providing other necessary national benefits, instead of one who worries about where we are going to build the next local bridge.
It's looks like everyone is in agreement that Congress's actions are deplorable. But I am wondering if there is really any hope to fix it? In such an antiquated and established system, if one of us comes in with the goal to change it, I'm not sure we would succeed. The focus of these men are on the next election, rather than issues that are most important to the country. Self interest rules the government, rather than the interests of the people as the Constitution had stipulated. This reminds me of the path Chelsea's Law took to pass in California. One of the main reasons it was passed was because Mr.King accepted the logrolling agenda of the senator. Additionally, Congress has become hypocritical. They hate the government spending, but they themselves manipulate exorbitant amounts for themselves and their campaigns. I think the public needs to understand the extent if Congress's actions, but could this even be possible when some politicians control the media?
I think this reaffirms the public's opinion on congress. It demonstrates that they are only concerned about their own well being, rather than the country's. Congress today is characterized by their unwillingness to compromise, which was depicted when they shut down the government for 17 days simply because they could not compromise on budgeting for Obamacare. The lack of compromise in Congress was also shown with Ted Cruz's fillabuster which lasted almost 24 hours, and wasted numerous resources and tax payer dollars. Cruz's primary reason for his actions was most likely to appeal to his constituents, and eventually get re-elected. Congress today primarily focuses on getting re-elected rather than actually approving legislation because of their inability to compromise, which is proving to be detrimental to the nation.
I agree with Anna. Congress needs to stop sweating the small stuff, and finaly get to the point. Stop all the arguing, and finally get these bills resolved. Both parties would rather fight it out, then actually make comparamises. We need to recognize these bills and find a solution.
I wish politicians would set their personal goals aside and truly focus on their constituents. I'm not saying all Congressmen goals are egotistical, but the vast majority are easy swayed by the dollar bill. They need to work for what they're being payed for. If they would put their personal or party differences aside and focus on the big issues at hand, maybe more solutions would be found.
I don't know why everyone is so surprised about this truly. Anyone who has had even a passing interest in American politics must have had the realization that they, yes, even our democracy, adhere to basic laws of nature. That is to say, in every governmental occurrence, there's always a conflict, always a victor, and inevitably, a loser, and even though it may not seem like it, survival of the fittest very much applies to today's political process. Matt Taibbi's article illustrated these principles quite well, in addition to illuminating many of the fundamental issues in Congress that lead to Shutdowns, Gridlock, etcetera ad naseuam... Maybe some day we, as humans, will have a legislative body that can triumph our natural insticts... But probably not.
No wonder the Congress approval rating is so low. They allocate too much money for wasteful projects such as $100,000 for a single traffic light and $223 million for a bridge to link 50 people to the mainland. Forget it make them swim or take a boat and use that money for the greater good of the majority. The Rules Committee is not helping either by making lawmakers wait a long time discouraging lawmakers from offering amendments that can help the nation as a whole. Although our country is better off than most other countries, politicians need to begin doing more for the majority of people then their wallets.
In concurrence with previous comments, I also believe that the biggest flaws of Congress are the politicians inability to compromise and personal gain. Matt Taibbi exposes the disgusting spending of federal money on pork barrel projects in the first section with the highway bill. It is not hard to understand why Congress's approval rating is so low, when they allocate millions of dollars on personal projects. Furthermore, the politics in the Capital are preventing democracy from occurring. It is shameful that our Congress focus's on individual agendas/constituent needs, rather than the people of the United States. As shown in the needed amendments to the Patriot Act and Sanders' 4th amendment, Congress has failed to provide modern legislation to protect the people and still favors large companies. The Congress must accept their representative role and compromise on legislature that serves the country.
Pork barreling is a very dishonest way of legislating. Putting additions into bills that are guaranteed to pass allows politicians to get away with using taxpayer money for projects that aren't necessarily the best use of said money. When all the pork gets jammed into a bill that is several thousand pages long, most of the other politicians don't even bother to read the whole thing, thus they don't even know what they're voting on. Congress: deception and stupidity at its finest. I'd like to see a change in Congress in the future - electing people that will actually do the job of governing without being putting party interests and re-election interests as their first priority. Imagine what that type of Congress could get done. One thing's for sure; they definitely wouldn't be wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on random bridges in Alaska simply to please their constituents...
Honestly, this article just proves that at the root of it, congress is ineffectual at best. One quote from this article resonated with me particularly. he said, "congress is kind of a permanent emergency in which a majority of members work day and night to burgle the national treasure and burn the Constitution". To me, it is sad to see that democracy really means nothing. Our country will forever be in stand still, like it is right now, because people are not willing to compromise. I think party lines have divided us further than anyone could have ever anticipated. Congress has become a circus and a mockery which is not what the founders intended. The NFL will probably never be pushed to realize the harmful effects of skull crushing over a long period of time. They can buy their way out of the issue and congress will never be able to agree on a consensus that will please everyone.
I really enjoyed the "Rolling Stone" tone, i thought it brought an interesting and humorous perspective to the issues we have been discussing for a while now. Despite how funny I found the article, the issue it presents is not funny. The legislative system in our country has more than a few flaws, and in times moving as fast as they are now, is the every man for himself approach going to work?I do not believe the United States can be responsive to any type of global or domestic crisis (let alone be a model democracy) with the non-negotiating congress it has now. After years of practically non-existent compromise, myself among many fear it will take a crisis to reform the values and processes of the United States Congress.
It seems like nearly everybody has come to the conclusion that it's a sad fact that Congress struggles to come to an agreement. I guess you could continue this argument, but I don't care enough. So I feel like looking at some Different views. I just find this inability to pass legislation interesting. If you want to be an optimist you could just say that no action is better than poor action. I mean, Congress could just pass legislation that screws up all the time. But they don't, so woo Congress! Obviously the other view is that action leads to improvement. I see that. I mean, with this long process, how could they possibly screw up? They try to find every flaw that they can. So maybe both views work together to provide for Congress's stagnant nature. They fear for passing legislation that can go wrong. And they are so careful about only passing legislation that is all good that it's very difficult to get anything passed. So maybe Comgress's inaction is a reason to keep most people unhappy instead of making everybody insane. Or that didn't make any sense. It probably didn't. Reading it now is kimd of awkward. Plus, it could just be a bunch of political, party lines nonsense that I'm not surprised by in any way. But I don't know. I don't run the country
Political factions have clearly taken over congress. When what is right is overshadowed by what they are suppose to think because of their party, it's time for reform. You would think that an independent would have an easier time getting something passed, because they don't have to worry about party lines, but instead, everyone else would rather make it into an argument. Like I said, reform can only come when the congressmen stop making everything about their re-election. The pork-barrel projects are useless in many respects, and are mostly for the selfish interests of congressmen. I don't believe all congressmen are in it for the wrong reasons, but a sure lot of them don't care about this nations best interest.
After watching something like this, it's difficult to have any faith in our Congress. Any good for the community done by an individual Congressman is completely overshadowed by the fact that the number one thing a Congressman cares about it getting reelected. Any change that is attempted in Congress is so extremely heavily influenced by lobbyists and changed by riders, that the general public is quite dismayed on their influence in our lawmaking system. Everyone is so focused on politics that compromise is practically impossible.
36 comments:
Congress isn't necessarily "corrupt", it's just full of old men who are antiquated. Similar to the video we watched in class, the word compromise seems to have lost all meaning. Instead, it is just rampant bullying and thinly veiled threats against each other while being too stubborn to change anything. It's a circus in Congress.
It's disgusting that in a democratic government, our legislatures cannot come to a single compromise. They spend all of their time bickering over small, minuscule details instead of solving problems that challenge the whole nation. Even when they do finally pass a law or any legislation it is so bogged down with riders and pork-barrel projects that it is barely recognizable as the bill that it was when it first arrived at Capitol Hill. I understand that Congress is purposefully built to move slowly and deliberately so that no rash decisions are made, but at the rate we are going no decisions are being made at all, rash or not.
Anna L.
I agree with Pei's comment about compromise. The congress has a representative function and a lawmaking function. If Congress could just focus on the lawmaking function maybe their ways would be a bit more democratic-- there would be logrolling still-- but not as much pork because they wouldn't be worried about being re-elected. However with the current system, being re-elected is every Congressman's goal; therefore, they have to add pork barrel projects and riders to amendments to help their constituency.Therefore it's not necessarily the system that is corrupt, it's more this has been the standard to get legislation passed. If people do not want all of this bullying then Congress's roles need to be reformed.
I agree with the previous comments that are frustrated with the lack of ability to compromise in congress. It's really sad that nothing gets done because those with the most power are more concerned with keeping their power and helping their own party than being productive. I know the Founding Fathers meant for congress to be a long and to have deliberation, but I don't think they ever meant for it to become like this, where it's all about reelection over actual productivity and bettering the lives of the people.
I think it's sad that legislators get paid the big bucks and get so many perks, but they don't do any work to deserve them. I honestly believe most politicians go into politics for themselves, not for their constituents. This is why they are so stubborn and only do work that will help them get reelected. It's like what you said Mr. Wolak, as soon as they find out you're not in their district, they want nothing to do with you. The same goes for bills that serve no purpose to them. And the bills that do impact them, they refuse to compromise on because of their loyalties to their parties. And they wonder why they have a 9% approval rate?
I know that everyone hates how congress can't compromise, but I'm not going to try and beat a dead horse. I think part of the problem is that congress just can't possibly represent everything people wish they would, and still somehow manage to compromise. While I'm not saying that congress isn't at fault, the people who elect them can always vote for a different representative, which begs the question, why don't they?
The way Taibbi ended that article was right on point: "The deck is stacked just enough to make sure that nothing ever changes. But just enough is left to chance to make sure that hope never completely dies out." Congress talks about all these reforms but never pulls the trigger. They only do what is best for themselves and their careers. $223 million for 50 people? Thats a lot of pork
I think this article showed us the fundamental flaw of Congress. The concept of personal gain. Our founders worked tirelessly to conceive a government that would aid the common man, and benefit everyone. Now, when we try to pass a bill that would help lives, our representatives take it upon themselves to fight about the details and add to pork to useful bills. I also think party adherence plays a big role in this. I think Congress should focus on their legislative ability to ensure that bills are passed in a efficient manner, so that change comes when it is needed. Right now, the process is way to slow and our reputation on the international and domestic strata is on the line.
I really think that this article clearly highlights both personal gain as well as the issue of compromise. Congress spends majority of it's time sticking to their parties views even if the bill would have no negative effect on them whatsoever. By sticking to their parties views and trying to please their constituents so that they can get reelected, the legislators don't pass anything and coming to a compromise is almost never an option to them! On top of all of this, when a crucial bill needs to be passed in order for the betterment of the nation, our legislators and more concerned about adding pork on so that they get reelected. The biggest concern for them is their seat, not the country's needs.
One thing that this article talked about that I really noticed was the part about the House Rules Committee. One of the only ways that legislators can influence this group is by shaming them into calling for a vote. That is really sad that the House Rules Committee can only be affected by outside parties through the use of shaming. Even though the people who are on the committee might have a different opinion then a person proposing a bill, they should still consider it to an extent.
I am going to try not to be too cynical here, but reading things like this kind of takes away any notion that our government does things that actually benefit anyone but themselves. They really don't care about their constituents; they care about reelection. And usually money, which comes either through completely illegal means, or in the form of pork. The system is designed not to pass anything that someone higher up doesn't benefit from. It's sad, yes. Do I have hope that it will ever change? Sorry, but not really.
I believe the inability to compromise in Congress stems from two factors. The first being getting reelected, and the second being that every member of Congress has their own idea of what is best for the country, to which they believe they were elected to represent. This being said, my opinion is that the majority Congress believes they have the countries best interest at heart, and that by not compromising they are representing their constituents who voted for them and what they stand for.
Everyone is bashing Congress for passing pork legislation, but the fact is that we all love pork legislation, when it benefits us that is. So maybe it's the voters who are selfish. After all, they do seem to reelect their representatives who pass pieces of pork legislation all the time.
Taibbi proved that the public's opinions about Congress was spot on. Like how we have talked about it in class, all politicians care about is getting reelected. They only care about getting their constituents' votes, so they can continue to get their big fat checks for doing absolutely nothing. It sounds like a great job; you get paid for doing pretty much nothing, but it's not so great when the decisions that they make effect the lives of the citizens. Taibbi called Congress "...an evil, adult version of Schoolhouse Rock", and I couldn't agree more.
This is basically a national example of what Mr. King told us about Chelsea's Law, except that now I realize how lucky he was to be able to get that bill passed. As we follow Sanders's story, it becomes easier to see that there really is no "system" to Congress. Everything is rushed, shady, and completely not bipartisan. I mean, no one really expects Congress to make sense or be fair, but this is something else entirely. I'm really surprised Sanders just hasn't given up. As much as we focused on the fact that Congress members are there to help their constituency, I think that most Congressmen honestly have no idea whats going on, especially the ones not seated in powerful committees behind closed doors. Thus, their constituencies have even less of an idea as to whats going on. Honestly, getting anything passed in Congress involves two things: money and luck.
I think to a certain extent pork barreling is actually a good thing. Yes sometimes politicians use our money like idiots and build bridges to nowhere, but I think pork barreling reflects one duty they were elected to do; take care of their state. Every congressman/woman has duties to improve their state and try to benefit the country as a whole.
So when congressmen/women pork barrel a very important national bill with small state bills, its like they are killing 2 birds with one stone.
While deals and logrolling sounds shady, it is really just a normal human interaction. People are naturally corrupt and will do anything to achieve their goal. But this may not be to bad, because if the congressman/woman's goal is to be re-elected, that means they must get bills passed for their states by making deals with other congressman, to help their state. This vote trading helps 2 states, and in turn will eventually help the nation.
I think that Taibbi really pointed out in this article Congress's main initiative--to get reelected, and maintain their seats. However, I think Congress does care about the constituents. Or rather, each Congressperson cares about their own constituents. This makes sense because by pleasing the people that they represent, they will have a better chance of getting reelected. I think that so much of each Congressperson's focus is put on their individual agendas and needs for their constituents that Congress stops functioning as a whole body of one serving an entire county, and instead is working as many individuals representing their groups of people. This makes passing legislation made for the entire country rather difficult, and shows just how much the people of Congress are doing to get reelected.
It's all about politics and not actually serving the people. Congressmen are still more focused on their job and passing bills that will place them in advantageous situations of being re-elected or receiving aid from special interest groups. I completely agree with Anna. The point of being careful and mindful of legislative action versus inefficiency has been crossed. Congress needs to reform the sabotage, mind-games, and drawn out feuds and be more focus minded on bring the proper change for the nation of America.
I agree with most of the previous posts along the lines of how our legislative system doesn't compromise enough. It is ridicules that our lawmakers cant agree on anything without adding some little policies just to help get their name out to the people so they can get reelected next time to pull off the same stunt. I understand that the lawmakers may have their home communities in mind and that they are trying to help them out, but they should be helping the country run as a whole without any problems first and let their local governments deal with the issues in the area. Isn't that why we have federal and state governments?
I agree with White's comment about the ups and downs of pork spending. Yes, some may sound very extreme and useless but these lawmakers are just representing their constituents, which is one of the main things they do to get re-elected. This may sound very selfish but that's just how people are, they do what they can in order to keep their job.
One thing about our congress that I really didn't like was the section about the lobbyist leprechaun games and all the loop holes they make in order to get lawmakers on their side. I thought the section about reserved seats for Wizards/Capitals games costing 50 cents below the congressional rule was a little ridiculous but shows that lobbyists will do whatever they can to get around rules and get lawmakers on their side.
I believe it is terrible that congress cant compromise, and that our congress functions more as a place to get re-elected rather than a place to get work done; But that begs the question, does congress really deserve all the blame? I believe we must also reflect on the fact that WE are the people who re-elect these reps in every election, and that by doing that, we are condoning congresses current actions. If we really want change in congress, we must accept our own fault in this, and make change for ourselves by voting differently.
I agree with the comments above, with how congress needs to learn how to compromise. There is too much emphasis on being reelected that nobody on Capitol Hill is able to work together, even if in the same party. Sometimes congress needs to stop throwing pork around and actually get to the primary lawmaking function they were meant to do, instead of playing this political game.
Although there are many members of Congress that actually care about the well being of this country, a lot of them are just looking out for themselves. They are passing pork barrel legislature because they want to have a good reputation with their people, and they do not care that they are spending $223 million of the people's money. And besides wasting the country's money for their own benefit, they refuse to compromise on issues that actually have great importance, such as Obamacare. Congress is functioning at its minimum. It is necessary for America for Congressmen to think more about how to make this country better (improve the environment, save money, pay off the debt, etc).
It seems as though the common trend has been that legislators in Congress should watch their own backs, and not worry about anyone else's. Congress is no longer a system of collective agreement, but a system of individual bickering. I believe that we the people can do something about this. When electing our members of Congress, choosing the candidate that will do better for the benefit of compromise, instead of the one that promises to give us individual "rights". I don't know about you, but I would rather have a congressman who helps in the process of lowering the debt, keeping funds in education, and providing other necessary national benefits, instead of one who worries about where we are going to build the next local bridge.
It's looks like everyone is in agreement that Congress's actions are deplorable. But I am wondering if there is really any hope to fix it? In such an antiquated and established system, if one of us comes in with the goal to change it, I'm not sure we would succeed. The focus of these men are on the next election, rather than issues that are most important to the country. Self interest rules the government, rather than the interests of the people as the Constitution had stipulated. This reminds me of the path Chelsea's Law took to pass in California. One of the main reasons it was passed was because Mr.King accepted the logrolling agenda of the senator.
Additionally, Congress has become hypocritical. They hate the government spending, but they themselves manipulate exorbitant amounts for themselves and their campaigns. I think the public needs to understand the extent if Congress's actions, but could this even be possible when some politicians control the media?
I think this reaffirms the public's opinion on congress. It demonstrates that they are only concerned about their own well being, rather than the country's. Congress today is characterized by their unwillingness to compromise, which was depicted when they shut down the government for 17 days simply because they could not compromise on budgeting for Obamacare. The lack of compromise in Congress was also shown with Ted Cruz's fillabuster which lasted almost 24 hours, and wasted numerous resources and tax payer dollars. Cruz's primary reason for his actions was most likely to appeal to his constituents, and eventually get re-elected. Congress today primarily focuses on getting re-elected rather than actually approving legislation because of their inability to compromise, which is proving to be detrimental to the nation.
I agree with Anna. Congress needs to stop sweating the small stuff, and finaly get to the point. Stop all the arguing, and finally get these bills resolved. Both parties would rather fight it out, then actually make comparamises. We need to recognize these bills and find a solution.
I wish politicians would set their personal goals aside and truly focus on their constituents. I'm not saying all Congressmen goals are egotistical, but the vast majority are easy swayed by the dollar bill. They need to work for what they're being payed for. If they would put their personal or party differences aside and focus on the big issues at hand, maybe more solutions would be found.
I don't know why everyone is so surprised about this truly. Anyone who has had even a passing interest in American politics must have had the realization that they, yes, even our democracy, adhere to basic laws of nature. That is to say, in every governmental occurrence, there's always a conflict, always a victor, and inevitably, a loser, and even though it may not seem like it, survival of the fittest very much applies to today's political process. Matt Taibbi's article illustrated these principles quite well, in addition to illuminating many of the fundamental issues in Congress that lead to Shutdowns, Gridlock, etcetera ad naseuam... Maybe some day we, as humans, will have a legislative body that can triumph our natural insticts... But probably not.
No wonder the Congress approval rating is so low. They allocate too much money for wasteful projects such as $100,000 for a single traffic light and $223 million for a bridge to link 50 people to the mainland. Forget it make them swim or take a boat and use that money for the greater good of the majority. The Rules Committee is not helping either by making lawmakers wait a long time discouraging lawmakers from offering amendments that can help the nation as a whole. Although our country is better off than most other countries, politicians need to begin doing more for the majority of people then their wallets.
In concurrence with previous comments, I also believe that the biggest flaws of Congress are the politicians inability to compromise and personal gain. Matt Taibbi exposes the disgusting spending of federal money on pork barrel projects in the first section with the highway bill. It is not hard to understand why Congress's approval rating is so low, when they allocate millions of dollars on personal projects. Furthermore, the politics in the Capital are preventing democracy from occurring. It is shameful that our Congress focus's on individual agendas/constituent needs, rather than the people of the United States. As shown in the needed amendments to the Patriot Act and Sanders' 4th amendment, Congress has failed to provide modern legislation to protect the people and still favors large companies. The Congress must accept their representative role and compromise on legislature that serves the country.
Pork barreling is a very dishonest way of legislating. Putting additions into bills that are guaranteed to pass allows politicians to get away with using taxpayer money for projects that aren't necessarily the best use of said money. When all the pork gets jammed into a bill that is several thousand pages long, most of the other politicians don't even bother to read the whole thing, thus they don't even know what they're voting on. Congress: deception and stupidity at its finest. I'd like to see a change in Congress in the future - electing people that will actually do the job of governing without being putting party interests and re-election interests as their first priority. Imagine what that type of Congress could get done. One thing's for sure; they definitely wouldn't be wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on random bridges in Alaska simply to please their constituents...
Honestly, this article just proves that at the root of it, congress is ineffectual at best. One quote from this article resonated with me particularly. he said, "congress is kind of a permanent emergency in which a majority of members work day and night to burgle the national treasure and burn the Constitution". To me, it is sad to see that democracy really means nothing. Our country will forever be in stand still, like it is right now, because people are not willing to compromise. I think party lines have divided us further than anyone could have ever anticipated. Congress has become a circus and a mockery which is not what the founders intended. The NFL will probably never be pushed to realize the harmful effects of skull crushing over a long period of time. They can buy their way out of the issue and congress will never be able to agree on a consensus that will please everyone.
I really enjoyed the "Rolling Stone" tone, i thought it brought an interesting and humorous perspective to the issues we have been discussing for a while now. Despite how funny I found the article, the issue it presents is not funny. The legislative system in our country has more than a few flaws, and in times moving as fast as they are now, is the every man for himself approach going to work?I do not believe the United States can be responsive to any type of global or domestic crisis (let alone be a model democracy) with the non-negotiating congress it has now. After years of practically non-existent compromise, myself among many fear it will take a crisis to reform the values and processes of the United States Congress.
It seems like nearly everybody has come to the conclusion that it's a sad fact that Congress struggles to come to an agreement. I guess you could continue this argument, but I don't care enough. So I feel like looking at some Different views. I just find this inability to pass legislation interesting. If you want to be an optimist you could just say that no action is better than poor action. I mean, Congress could just pass legislation that screws up all the time. But they don't, so woo Congress! Obviously the other view is that action leads to improvement. I see that. I mean, with this long process, how could they possibly screw up? They try to find every flaw that they can. So maybe both views work together to provide for Congress's stagnant nature. They fear for passing legislation that can go wrong. And they are so careful about only passing legislation that is all good that it's very difficult to get anything passed. So maybe Comgress's inaction is a reason to keep most people unhappy instead of making everybody insane. Or that didn't make any sense. It probably didn't. Reading it now is kimd of awkward. Plus, it could just be a bunch of political, party lines nonsense that I'm not surprised by in any way. But I don't know. I don't run the country
Political factions have clearly taken over congress. When what is right is overshadowed by what they are suppose to think because of their party, it's time for reform. You would think that an independent would have an easier time getting something passed, because they don't have to worry about party lines, but instead, everyone else would rather make it into an argument. Like I said, reform can only come when the congressmen stop making everything about their re-election. The pork-barrel projects are useless in many respects, and are mostly for the selfish interests of congressmen. I don't believe all congressmen are in it for the wrong reasons, but a sure lot of them don't care about this nations best interest.
After watching something like this, it's difficult to have any faith in our Congress. Any good for the community done by an individual Congressman is completely overshadowed by the fact that the number one thing a Congressman cares about it getting reelected. Any change that is attempted in Congress is so extremely heavily influenced by lobbyists and changed by riders, that the general public is quite dismayed on their influence in our lawmaking system. Everyone is so focused on politics that compromise is practically impossible.
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