Just came across a nice little summation of why Washington today is so gridlocked: “Why Congress Is So Dysfunctional” by Charles Babington. There are no surprises here — just a nice, readable little history of how we got where we are today. It seems to touch all the bases. Unfortunately, like so many similar articles, it just confirms what you already know; it doesn’t suggest any solutions.
I had read the same article elsewhere, Pied, and it all makes sense. Of all the reasons given for the increase in partisanship, I think I would blame gerrymandering the most. Here in SW Missouri, a solidly red district in the Bible Belt, the voters elected a man who I think is very poorly qualified. Heck, he doesn’t even look like a good politician, but he knows all the right sound bites, like “job-killing taxes” for example.
Solutions? I don’t know any either. We may have reached the tipping point where moderates become extinct in Congress.
We’ve had a huge fight going on here in Colo. over some redistricting. The way some of the lines have been drawn is just ridiculous. It’s all very depressing. I think you’re right. Moderates in Congress are a critically endangered species.
Those of us who’ve raised kids will remember a time when we responded to their question, “What time is it?” with something like, “2 PM” we were immediately faced with the followup question: “Why?”
Regardless of the initial question and answer, they never seemed to negate the consistent need for the followup, “Why?”
I felt the same childish impulse while reading Babington’s article. For every “problem” that he, or his interviewee “Edwards” saw, what I saw was merely a symptom of a much more fundamental problem.
I think if you read that article and ask yourself, “Why?” every time Babington mentions a problem, you’ll begin to see a trend that’s consistent throughout his whole piece.
Unless it’s something along the lines of “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” I give up.
It looks a bit like the perfect storm to me. Take away any one of the elements listed, and things would not be as bad as they are. I think the last big push into the current situation came with the Citizens United decision and the sudden infusion of so much corporate, foreign, and special interest money into what used used to be the people’s electoral system.
The root cause of the problem is the corruption you mention. As a constitutional republic, our government was designed to constrain corrupt politicians from activities that aren’t constitutionally authorized regardless of a democratic majority willing to pay for unauthorized advantage. Willing buyers of government favors will attract corrupt politicians who covet customers. Corporatism escalates as a government with something to sell endeavors to find new markets for willing buyers. As a result, ninety percent of government agencies and programs are not constitutionally authorized. That’s a lot of oxen that need to be gored. All of us have been forced to buy herds of oxen. And nobody wants any of theirs gored.