Gallup reported yesterday, “Americans’ confidence in Congress as an institution is down to 10%, ranking the legislative body last on a list of 16 societal institutions for the fourth straight year. This is the lowest level of confidence Gallup has found, not only for Congress, but for any institution on record.”
What’s more, it’s a bipartisan phenomenon. Traditionally, when there’s a Democratic Congress, the legislative branch could at least count on some support from Democratic voters, and under a Republican Congress, the same would be true of GOP voters. But now that there’s split control over the chambers, every one of every partisan and ideological stripe feels equally comfortable criticizing the institution with similar zeal.
What’s weird is that I am not particularly unhappy with the Democrats in Congress. Not more than normal, anyway. I’ll take these versions of House and Senate Democrats over any that came before them. He don’t have any segregationists. The Blue Dog Caucus is decimated. The Progressive Caucus is a big, healthy caucus in the House. And we haven’t had this many progressive senators since before the Cold War started in earnest. That doesn’t mean I’m happy. But, for the most part, the Democrats are doing no more than the standard amount of stupid crap. I know that they can’t do anything constructive and I know why they can’t do it.
Now, some people on the right probably feel the same way. Their party has never been so conservative. But they can’t make any real breakthroughs on abortion or taxes or regulations or spending because they only control the House. So, that level of frustration can lead someone to condemn the whole institution when they are really angry and dissatisfied with one side or with the balance of powers.
The bigger problem, I think, is that most people don’t really know who to blame, or how much blame to assign to each side. But anyone who thinks that problems are going unsolved because of Nancy Pelosi doesn’t understand how the government works.
Even on the Senate side, which the Democrats control, the need to get 60 votes for everything when the Dems only control 54 seats means that the Republicans effectively have a veto.
Sometimes, it seems like a distinction without a difference. The House passes bill after bill that will never go anywhere. The Senate is incapable of passing any bills at all. The end result is the same. But the Senate Democrats’ inability to move legislation takes away their ability to put pressure on the House. And it obscures who is primarily to blame for the gridlock.
Ironically, I think Congress should have better polls. At the very least, they should have better differentiated polls. Democrats shouldn’t be so down on Democrats and conservatives shouldn’t be so down on Republicans. And there are too many people in the middle saying “a pox on both your houses” rather than assigning blame where it belongs.
“Democrats shouldn’t be so down on Democrats and conservatives shouldn’t be so down on Republicans.”
That poll doesn’t suggest that they are, does it? It just suggests that Democrats are down on Congress and Republicans are down on Congress, which as you say makes a good deal of sense.
“Democrats shouldn’t be so down on Democrats and conservatives shouldn’t be so down on Republicans.”
That poll doesn’t suggest that they are, does it? It just suggests that Democrats are down on Congress and Republicans are down on Congress, which as you say makes a good deal of sense.
“Sometimes, it seems like a distinction without a difference.”
Far from it. while there may be many inputs leading to the same output of “nothing gets done”, what must be done to FIX the problem differs radically from those inputs leading to the same output.
hence there’s a world of difference.
The only chance for anything coming out of this Congress, is if somehow or other the Democrats can either avoid a filibuster, or change the rules (uhm, hear that, Democratic Senators Reid, Levin, and others?).
And then only if that law can go the House and Boehner agrees to wave “The Ass-turds-Rule Rule,” and get some Republicans to join the Democrats, who’ll have to pretty much vote en masse in support of that law.
The problem is, that while the Democrats are willing to make some reasonable compromises, the Republicans feet are a firmly planted as a Mobster’s are in the cement bucket, before he’s thrown off the boat in the nearest deep body of water.
So, there are two chances of a law passing this Congress – Slim, and None.
And Slim is afraid of being primaried from the right, and will skip the vote.
So, congratulations, America!
We have a Congress that The Black Death, AIDS, and the Ebola Virus, would out-poll.
We are a nation where there are too many angry, hate and fear-filled, racists, misogynists, xenophobes, homophobes, Jesus-freaks, suckers, marks, fools, bobo’s, rubes, assholes, twits, gits, nit/half/dim-wits, morons, imbeciles, and feckin’ eedjits.
‘A house divided, half rational, and half asylum, cannot stand.’
The Senate Dems need 60 votes to pass anything, um, because of the Senate Dems. It’s way past time to forget that tired old excuse.
It’s hardly news that people are pissed about the spectacle of an American oligarchy, the idiot political rhetoric and posturing, the gross lies that have become the engine this society runs on. The polls don’t ask whether the US of A is a nest of vipers, so contempt for Congress becomes the closest match. The real puzzle is how the Administration has thus far escaped the brunt of the disaffection, and how long that will last..
well, even there, when you have 48 or 49 senators who want to change the rules and five or six that don’t, who do you blame? The whole lot of them?
It’s particularly galling to see that reasoning – allowing a tiny minority to override the position of a huge majority in defining “the Senate Dems” as a whole – used by someone arguing against the filibuster.
You mean K Street and the great career revolving door?
C’mon, when was the last time that a constituent not asking for personal “constituent” services got to talk to a key policy staff person of a Congresscritter about policy? Unless there was a history of financial or other contribution to the Congresscritter’s campaign?
And when was the last time that an old colleague now at a major lobbying firm was told to cool his heels (not to mention his jets).
The people in the middle aren’t just k street. They’re the average people all around us who can’t be bothered to learn the issues, and blame both parties because they’re too lazy to know any better.
That’s a problem that starts with the people. What goes on in Washington is more of a symptom of that.
When was the last time a constituent got an e-mail or letter answered except for a form letter that doesn’t even address the constituents point?
Money talks. That’s the only sound “our” leaders hear.
Ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer.
Ask an intelligent question, you get an intelligent answer:
“The entire body has a 7% approval rating since the fiscal cliff debacle that dragged out until the very last minute. Democrats in Congress emerged with a 38% approval rating while their Republican counterparts are approved by only 15% of voters. Even GOP voters don’t like their GOP lawmakers in Washington, with 25% approving and 61% disapproving.”
http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/01/09/poll-congress-unpopular-but-democrats-more-liked-than-republicans/
Congress isn’t as bad as it looks. It’s worse.
Ironically, I think Congress should have better polls. At the very least, they should have better differentiated polls.
Well, that’s just it. I mean, I’d give Congress the lowest rating possible but that’s entirely because of the racist wingnuts who have a gerrymandered majority in the House. I’m not overly thrilled with the Senate majority, to be sure, but at the worst I’d rate Harry Reid’s gang of incompetent milktoasts “fair”.
The whole idea of asking a rating on Congress is weak – and if you do you need to probe further.
It’s similar with asking people’s approval of Obamacare. The majority disapprove – and that is what the reich-leaning media report – but a large part of the negativity are those who are pissed off that it’s so pro-corporate and would have preferred single payer (for some reason common in other third world countries but considered out-of-bounds in the US) or at worst a public option. The fact is a substantial majority of us prefer Obamacare to the previous status quo but the pro-1% media will never actually report that.