It is often asked why doesn't the Congress and the President do what's good for the American people. Why don't they stop all the party bickering and party line contention and get together and do good things.
Of course what they really mean is why don't they all agree to do what their particular political party, and some cases just a group within one of the parties, in the Congress wants.
The answer is quite simple really. At least when you think about it. The fault is in our type of government as detailed in the Constitution.
The members of Congress do not owe their allegiance to the American People nor to the country. They say they do, but in reality they don't. The members of Congress and even the President owes their allegiances to their own constituencies. Each Congressman and Senator holds their office because of the backing of some set of groups that have an agenda. Some of these groups represent huge money and others significant voting blocks. Many different groups, districts and States have different circumstances, desires and motivations for what they want out of the federal government and intense lobbying groups with deep pockets that are willing to finance the extraordinarily expensive campaigns necessary to be elected to office. The labor unions, especially the very strong and powerful public employee unions have a fat purse and a big stake in who sits in congress. As does manufacturing and small business. The people who are the recipients of government programs of all types (there are almost too many count) represent a significant voting block for any aspiring or current member of Congress.
So each Congressman and Senator represents the group that got them into office. And that folks, is the way the system is set up and works. You say, what's wrong with that? Well, in some cases nothing. It results in the Congress representing somewhere between 1/3 to 1/2 of the citizens of this country. The ones who take the trouble to vote. Although surveys have shown that over 50 percent of the voters don't really understand what or who they are voting for most of the time. (The others should just take what's handed to them I guess, they really don't have a beef).
But, what if something needs to be done for the good of the country that isn't popular with the public employee unions, the people on Social Security, the people on welfare, all the people on the various entitlement programs funded by the government or even with the public at large. In that case the Congress is very loath to tackle the problem in any meaningful way and suffer the outrage of their constituencies. Adding to all of this is that the Congress, led by the Democrats, have added entitlement programs to the federal trough at an astounding rate, putting more voters out there that would resist reductions in those programs.
There has been several bi-partisan super committees established by the Congress over the last years tasked to study and make recommendations on many far reaching problems facing our nation. Congress just set a new one to study how to avoid the coming confrontation over the debt ceiling that's coming up in January. They spend months holding meetings doing research and finally publishing a report detailing the recommendations for future actions to solve the problem they were tasks to study. And then the report is ignored. The escalating federal debt, the soon to be insolvent Social Security Program, the huge pension liabilities for public employees, the dependence on foreign oil, the huge trade imbalance with other nations, and on and on have been studied by these super-committees. Why are they ignored you ask? Because the solutions always mean that some powerful group or groups, at a minimum, will have to take less of bite out of the federal trough. Sometimes the best solution for the country is an even a more bitter pill to swallow. The problem is, and it's real, that for a Congressman or Senator to vote for the changes contained in the recommendations would likely by political suicide. At least that's a risk they're unwilling to take. Even though they know full well that the path outlined by the report is the best thing for America, they just don't have the death wish to go against a large block of voters that make up their own constituencies.
So why don't our elected officials do what's best for the country? The answer, is again, because that's not the way the system is set up and works. And, I see not change in the future.
Sorry folks it's what we've got and we're stuck with it. If you want to make a difference you have to be part of some powerful group that can have an effect on the election of some Congressman or Senator.
