Getty Images
Matt Taibbi wrote a terrific piece for Rolling Stone in October 2006 about the Republican-led Congress in power at the time. He painted an unsettling picture of what he called the "Worst Congress Ever."
"These were the years," Taibbi wrote, "when the U.S. parliament became a historical punch line, a political obscenity on par with the court of Nero or Caligula -- a stable of thieves and perverts who committed crimes rolling out of bed in the morning and did their very best to turn the mighty American empire into a debt-laden, despotic backwater, a Burkina Faso with cable."
The article included this classic quote from Jonathan Turley: "The 109th Congress is so bad that it makes you wonder if democracy is a failed experiment."
That was six years ago. I think it's more than fair to say the current, 112th Congress makes the 109th look brilliant and responsible by comparison. Indeed, in all sincerity, I don't even think it's a close call. Ezra Klein had a great piece today, listing "13 reasons why this is the worst Congress ever."
Hating on Congress is a beloved American tradition. Hence Mark Twain's old joke, "Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself." But the 112th Congress is no ordinary congress. It's a very bad, no good, terrible Congress. It is, in fact, one of the very worst congresses we have ever had.
Ezra's list is well worth reading, and the list is an effective indictment. Congress isn't legislating; it lacks public support; it's undermining the national economy; and it fails to complete basic tasks.
I'd only add that one of the consequences of having a Congress this abysmal is the extent to which it shapes our expectations. I've felt great relief on several occasions since the 112th Congress began when lawmakers managed to avoid government shutdowns that lawmakers themselves had threatened -- which is depressing, since I really shouldn't be impressed when the legislative branch of the United States government manages, just barely, to keep its own lights on.
We've internalized absurd standards. We simply assume as a matter of course that important policymaking is impossible, and we celebrate legislative moves that, in the recent past, were routine and remarkable.
There's no shortage of explanations for this, but at a certain point, Americans who showed up to vote in the 2010 midterms might need to accept some responsibility -- they elected some of the most manifestly unqualified policymakers in a generation, and the result is a Congress that's hard to watch without covering your eyes.
Leave a Comment:
The President should make the argument that he is presiding over the only remaining functuning branch of government.
Since expanded executive power seems to be in favor among Democrats, I'm heartened by thinking of all the wonderful things Romney could decree without Congressional interference.
The expanding of executive power is purely the realm of the GOP, specifically Bush/Cheney. Obama is working squarely within his rights, and the GOP doesn't let him step one inch beyond.
As for Romney exercising executive power, the only way he's an executive again is if he goes back to Bain. The latest Pew poll puts it 50%-43% for Obama... and that is only going to expand as Romney flounders in his past.
WRONG again grumpy.....
In 2008 candidate Obama stated “I taught the Constitution for ten years. I believe in the Constitution. I will obey the Constitution of the United States. We’re not gonna use signing statements as a way of doing an end-run around Congress.”
From 2009 to date, the president has issued 128 Executive Orders dealing with abortion, U.S. Armed Forces, American Indians and Alaskan native educational programs, Bosnia, business and industry, commissions, boards, committees, task forces, etc. National Defense, energy, environment, faith-based organizations, Government agencies, Haiti, health Care, historical black colleges and universities, Iran, Kosovo, Libya, North Korea, patient protection and Affordable Care Act, Presidential records, regulatory cooperation, Somalia, stem cells, Syria, trade, veterans and Yemen.
Timmy3, if you had to deal with this congress you would have gave up on that as well.
Best comment I've read in a long time.
..oops...
"we celebrate legislative moves that, in the recent past, were routine and remarkable."
Steve, you mean, "unremarkable". In fact, you could say "underwhelming".
"...a stable of thieves and perverts who committed crimes rolling out of bed in the morning and did their very best to..."
They're also prostitutes for the 1%, but so far that isn't stopping them!
VOTE OUT THE GOTP IN NOVEMBER!!
The current state of Congress is a point in degradation that may be a real entropy of democracy going into a kleptocracy. It's been a long time coming and along with all else is at a precipice. We can only hope to elect real leaders who passionately represent the people ("the people" is not a pejorative). Regardless, we're all working from the same gene pool.
Except those new corporate persons/people.
So... if congress is so visibly and historically bad... why do these people keep getting re-elected? Why can't the moderate base get mobilized to make a stand?
Idiocracy my friend . Idiocracy
Brawndo! It's got electrolytes
Because we can only choose what the two party system gives us and as humans we tend to stay with the devil we know than the one we don't.
Because the sheeple want people that confuse them as long as the pastor/preacher/idiot - that tells them that's what they want. And it's easier than thinking for themselves...
Remember 2010? All the Tea Party candidates making those patriotic cheer-indusing campaign promises at flag-drapped rallies, words echoing out over a sea of like faces and minds that THIS TIME they'll really DO something? That's how.
And the only something they've done since arriving in WA is pretend that doing nothing is keeping That Black Man from turning America Muslim.
Rade Radosevich, LMT......IMO it is because 50% of america want the dysfunctional gov we are getting right now , they want it completely destroyed in some regards , the u s congress is generic polling for the nov election at
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/generic_congressional_vote-2170.html
Generic poll U S Congress 7/9/2012
dems 42%
GOP 42%
To me that means the gop will all be voted back into office , for doing exactly what they are doing , wisconsin is a good example , obamas numbers are great there , while the u s Senate and congress races show the gop winning them , in the past you could have a reasonable split government , now the gop are on a destroy everything dem mission , they want to take america down if they can not have their way completely , the average voter is not aware of that fact yet
Because they are not simply bad politicians. They are actually very clever politicians who are sabotaging Congress specifically and the political process generally with the objective of turning off large numbers of people to politics. Call it voluntary voter suppression. People become disgusted, disengage, and don't turn out to vote. Lower turnout always benefits Republicans. And if people are made to expect only @!$%# from government, then they'll only be resigned when they get it. At least, I believe that's the idea.
Not a failed democracy only stagnant... This shall pass...
Think smarter America that is key to democracy... We learn together education
& knowledge is power... Great article...
I am not an alarmist by nature , but I do not see conservative gop ever learning anything , they only react to stern aggressiveness with zero weakness showing
I saw a poll awhile back that showed 38% of people think the problem is with other states congressmen and not their own.So it look's like were in for more of the same.I hope every tea party member get's their walking paper's this time around.But the only one that look's like a sure thing is that dingbat Joe Walsh, adios mo-fo.
The only comparison I see for this current Congress is 1652 Poland's Parliament with the librium veto which allowed any magnate (their one percent who actually were the legislators, guess they were too cheap to bribe them) to not only halt a particular piece of legislation, but repeal all actions of that parliament. The magnates protected their "freedom from taxation" while Sweden, Hungary, and Kazaks attacked and over ran Poland, but they kept their oath to their version of Grover Norquist, only about a million Poles died, but then again they were only peasants, not the REAL Poland - the magnates (1%). Republicans love to celebrate the 1% and sacrifice the remaining 99%, they would have made great Polish 17th Century magnates, just like those magnates would have made great 21st century Republicans...History has not been kind to those magnates, and will not be kind to these Republicans.
Thanks, Fred. The Sejm is one of my favorite historical (bad) examples.
And in the 2000nds , the gop peasents have no problem voting in favor of tax cuts to the wealthy , so they can go shopping , while they get sent to iraq as cannon fodder , disturbing
burp!!!
joca41: I will admit, the problem is my Congressman, for whom I did not vote.
The problem is also my congressman, Doug Lamborn, whose web site brags on his being "named the Most Conservative Member of Congress by the National Journal in 2009, 2010, and 2011." He is class of '06 and I have never voted for him, even in primaries (I was a life-long Republican right up until this past February when I finally went unaffiliated - just couldn't take the stoooooop-id no more!!!)
You think you've got it bad? My Congresscreature is wRong Paul!!
Oh the Humanity!!!
Yeah, because the Libertarian platform sure doesnt makes sense angeleno....and the current dem/repub lockup does. wake up ppl. The current stalemate exists because its all about power, political ideology, and cronny capitalism.... We could only hope to have a third party like the libertarian party in majority. Its americans fault, we keep reelecting the same idiots who refuse to be accountable to the american ppl. Why do you think big pharma, lawyer lobbyists, and big insurance had seats at obamacare drafting and not on cspan like obama promised....duh
http://www.lp.org/platform
There's no shortage of explanations for this, but at a certain point, Americans who showed up to vote in the 2010 midterms might need to accept some responsibility -- they elected some of the most manifestly unqualified policymakers in a generation, and the result is a Congress that's hard to watch without covering your eyes.
Here's an alternative explanation: all the "disappointed progressives" who discovered that electing Obama in 2008 didn't bring the millenium as they had decided it would, and so they stayed home on election day 2010 and didn't vote, thus magnifying the power of the votes of the right.
It is a demonstrable fact that, had voting levels of 2008, or even just a little lower than that, been in effect in 2010, we would not have lost the House of Representatives and might have kept the Senate at a higher number.
I really dislike how the morons who voted for Nader in 2000 have never taken responsibility for the creation of the Bush Presidency, and now the "purists" won't admit to screwing the pooch a second time in 2010. Many of those bemoaning what has happened in the past two years need only look as far as the nearest mirror in their search for how and why that happened.
Do you have any links that detail who showed up , and who did not , from exit poll data TCinLA , I just have never looked into it ...We showed up here in Iowa and kept our dems in office in 2010 , watching northern states vote with these mindless southern stooges is a bit unbearable for me , and they manage to find people that are pretty much southern CONSERVATIVE stupid , their voters and politicians are coming out of the wood work in the midwest
I was naive enough to think MY generation (same age as obama ) would be some what more enlightened come our time , well @!$%# that , and the next generation will not fair any better
Here's the deal in plain talk. Politics in America went from simmering differences that were willing to compromise and fringe elements willing to accept that their's was not a popular view to a pot boiling over with zealots , the moe entrenched Rupert Murdoch got. He has turned a working system of governance into a hit series based on hatred. CSPAN has yielded to the outter limits as our Congress becomes comical version of Great Britains parliment sans the civility and workability.
Yes I blame Murdoch. But he needed sheep to herd and dogs to herd them.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Back when I was was a twentysomething know it all college student, I used to sneer at Woodrow Wilson's belief that parliamentary systems were better than our form of government and, let's face it, Wilson's easy to sneer at. Vilely racist, naively idealistic when dealing with cynical, bitter Europe. Sincerely believing World War I could be the "war to end war." Yada yada yada. But he was also a president dealing with a Republican Party that was almost as insane and fully as obstructionist as it is now.
And then there's the fact every single other country that's decided to give democracy a try and copied our form of government in lieu of a parliamentary system has descended into tyranny within a few years or decades.
So, anyway, I now agree that something big has to happen to get us back on track. A lot smart poli sci and law professor types have proffered a number of complicated proposals, but it seems to me that two simple structural reforms would at least give us a shot at fixing the country.
First, abolish midterms. Make the terms of Senators and members of Congress four years and elect them when we elect the president. Make the presidential and congressional candidates of each party stand or fall together and make sure that we don't get a divided government every time something's starting to get done just because the people who lost last time are mad about it and motivated and the ones who won are complacent and apathetic.
Second, abolish the filibuster. Forbid either house from enacting rules requiring more than one half plus one of the number of sitting members to do anything unless the Constitution specifically says otherwise.
Both of these would be hard, heavy lifts politcially, but they'd be a lot easier, and a lot less dangerous and scary than trying to figure out a way to undo Citizens United with a Constitutional amendment without opening Pandora's box. (And I don't see anyway to safely do that by Constitutional amendment--I think it has to be a judicial fix.)
I'd rather go for a true parliamentary system, rather than tinker with what we've already got. One benefit, among many, is that parties sort by ideology in a parliamentary system, and the radical ideologues filter into small fringe parties which generally can do no harm (especially if there's an electoral hurdle a party must clear in order to gain any seats).
Guess you haven't been paying attention to Israeli politics for the last forty years.
This is exactly the way Republicans want it: dysfunctional. They've got what they want and the consequences and responsibility are theirs.
The senate, dem controlled, has not PRESENTED a budget in 3 YEARS!!!
Budgets (per that yellowed and frequently ignored document, the Constitution) must originate in the House.
And Timmy, you must know who controls the House. Hint: it's not Democrats, thanks to rampant post-2010 gerrymandering.
Hey you people, stop disrespecting Burkina Faso.
It has the coolest capital city name on Earth.
Look it up, and say it strong.
Another power grab by Obama and the feds....... where is Maddow and the liberal lapdog media on this?
http://www.infowars.com/obamas-latest-power-grab-rewriting-welfare-reform-law/
The senate, dem controlled, has not PRESENTED a budget in 3 YEARS!!!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/05/21/1093510/-Republicans-intentionally-sabotaging-the-economy-Why-does-this-keep-getting-a-question-mark