It’s no secret that the United States Congress is a laughingstock. It has made people from around the world scratch their heads more and more in the past few years, and Americans have generally maintained a record-low approval of Congress for quite some time. The primary reason for this contempt is popularly seen as partisan gridlock, which is a standard, agreeable answer. But it’s about time that we admit that the problem with Congress is not Congress, but the Republican Party and its refusal to advance the will of the American people.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s boldly honest proclamation: “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president,” a statement I have become fond of quoting as it perfectly illustrates the problem with Republicans, and therefore, the problem with Congress. Similarly, former South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint said that stopping the Affordable Care Act “would be his Waterloo.” The GOP’s approach has been: well, we can’t beat the President, but we’re sure as hell going to stall or sabotage everything he proposes.
The recent government shutdown was the most glaringly obvious example that the problem with Washington is not gridlock or both parties unwilling to compromise but rather the Republicans. Democrats should not accept an iota of blame from anyone for allowing legislation, which they already passed, to stand. Subsequently, approval ratings of the Republican Party fell to an all-time low of 28 percent, but there has not been a significant change in opinion that recognizes Republicans as the problem. More superficially, their retention of the House in next year’s midterm elections somehow still seems likely.
Likewise, the Senate’s failure this past spring to advance legislation that would require background checks with the purchase of firearms is not due to gridlock. Nor is it the fault of the two-party system, and it’s not even a consequence of the power to filibuster in the Senate. The problem is that Republicans systematically abuse the power given to the minority party and ignored the 90 percent of Americans who favored such legislation, which is enough to blow steam from anyone’s ears.
This trend continues along issues of higher taxes on the wealthy, which a substantial majority of Americans support. More recently, Gallup reported that an increase in the minimum wage to $9.00 an hour has the support of a whopping 76 percent of Americans but will likely not even be introduced in Congress.
For now, immigration reform remains the last hope of Congress acting to reflect the will of the American people. But while it passed the Senate this past summer with several concessions from Democrats, Speaker John Boehner has refused to even hold a vote. There is an absolute void of logic that he has allowed over 40 votes in the House for the unattainable repeal of the Affordable Care Act but will not allow legislators to vote to reform immigration, which actually has some chance of becoming law.
Over 60 percent of Americans wish to see a third party emerge, and though the thought of it sounds nice, there probably would not be a change in Washington that Americans want to see. Congress does not operate as a parliamentary system and for most of its history, it has functioned well under the two-party system. Whether Democratic-Republicans, Federalists or Whigs have been in power, a third party has not been particularly necessary.
Whether it’s in the interest of political prudence or it’s just the uncomfortable reality of the situation, we as a country have been extremely hesitant to state the problem with Congress.
The closest we have gotten is noting that it has been out of touch with Americans and its separation from reality.
In fact, the problem is reminiscent of the scene in “Moneyball” (2011) in which Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), as the general manager of the Oakland A’s baseball team, asks a table of scouts how they are going to replace players they can no longer afford. Beane goes around the table asking “What is the problem?” to which each of the gray-haired, bespectacled men give typical responses. Beane interrupts each of them mid-sentence and eventually explains to his unreceptive audience, content with the status quo, that in order to succeed they need to think differently in order to recognize and then address the real problem. Voters and Republicans alike must do the same.
Online Editor Ross Fogg is a College senior from Fayetteville, Ga.
Illustration by Katrina Worsham
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Sadly, this was terribly biased article by someone who is clearly out of touch with America. I don’t have time to type an essay and switch topics as you did, but I will address the most important issue- the so-called Affordable Care Act. I would like you to look at the polls and most importantly the financial numbers for yourself. There is no excuse for the fact that 5 million Americans have lost healthcare as a result of the “Affordable Care Act”. 5 million people to nothing to scoff at, but Democrats want to ignore this matter. Also, insurance costs will not decrease in the vast majority of states (http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/11/04/49-state-analysis-obamacare-to-increase-individual-market-premiums-by-avg-of-41-subsidies-flow-to-elderly/), rather they will increase (calling it affordable was a misnomer at best and really a lie). Finally, the high level of unemployment hasn’t been addressed in Obama’s 5 years in office, and it will only go up as Obamacare begins to take shape and insurance costs increase for employers. This is simple economics but you can find estimates of jobs (millions) that will be lost from several sources. Ross, there is good reason for the terrible support for Obamacare according to the polls and the shying away from Obamacare by many Democrats in anticipation for the 2014 elections. Obamacare is an unmitigated disaster, and the administration just makes excuses and continues with its overreach despite the miserable and decreasing support. Of course, the health care system needs reform, but not the type of reform that causes people lose healthcare, pay more for healthcare, and lose their jobs.
I agree with much of what John said, but I just want to add, your statement that “Democrats should not accept an iota of blame from anyone for allowing legislation, which they already passed, to stand,” in relation to the government shutdown is laughable. The fact of the matter is, Republicans were willing to fund the government (and passed a bill doing so) requiring only that ACA be delayed. As we now know, not only has the individual mandate unilaterally been delayed by President Obama, the so-called “minimum standards” for insurance that the ACA was supposed to established have now also been unilaterally delayed by President Obama. (These changes are in addition to Obama also already declaring that the employer mandate would be delayed.)
Though when the shutdown first happened, I thought the Republican’s strategy was asinine, as more time passes, I think it serves to really make the Democrats look extremely foolish. Republicans proposed more than one funding bill with different concessions/changes to ACA, and the Democrats refused to even consider them and preferred instead for the government to shutdown. Now, the Democrats are more than happy to allow President Obama to unilaterally make the EXACT SAME CHANGES the Republicans asked for in exchange for keeping the government open. You want to talk about partisanship? Republicans were called hostage takers and terrorists for demanding these changes, yet when President Obama subverts the legislative process to make the EXACT SAME CHANGES, it’s crickets from the Democrats. How anyone could justify the Democrats’ “strategy” regarding the ACA is beyond me.
I’m impressed, I have to say. Basically