Historically People Complained about having the Worst Congress Ever! - This time American are Right


Worst. Congress. Ever.

Americans have complained for years that their government is broken. This time they're right.

BY NORMAN ORNSTEIN | JULY 19, 2011

Dana Carvey had a character during his years on Saturday Night Live who was a crotchety old man complaining about how much better everything was "in my day," the imagined halcyon times of his past. After almost 42 years immersed in the politics of Congress, I have to check myself regularly to avoid falling into the same trap. When I came to Washington in 1969, for example, the city was riven with division and antagonism over the Vietnam War, which segued into the impeachment of a president, followed by many other difficult and contentious moments. In this case, though, Carvey's old man would be right: The hard reality is that for all their rancor, those times were more functional, or at least considerably less dysfunctional, than what we face with Congress today.


Parliamentary Funk
5 Countries Whose Legislatures Are as Screwed Up as America's

In 2006, I wrote a book with the Brookings Institution's Tom Mann called The Broken Branch: How Congress is Failing America and How to Get I..., in which we reflected on the high level of dysfunction in Congress that had been building since the 1990s. From the Clinton years through the middle of George W. Bush's second term, partisan division had been accompanied by a growing ideological gulf in Congress, and along with it had come a decline in institutional loyalty and other norms, the near disappearance of meaningful debate and deliberation, and a sharp decline in the "regular order," the adherence to and respect for the rules and procedures that normally operated in the legislative body.

 

Two years later, we wrote a second edition to reflect the change that had come with the return of Democratic leadership to Congress, noting at least some marginal areas of improvement, albeit within the larger context of continued dysfunctionality. We were hopeful that Barack Obama's sweeping victory in 2008, along with the robust gains for his party in both houses of Congress -- a sharp contrast with the controversial 2000 presidential election and the razor-thin margins in Congress that followed -- might bring a return to more functional government and a proud and functioning First Branch. That did not mean a supine and kneejerk Congress bending to the will of the president, but one vigorously asserting its independent role, through oversight and other means.

 

Quite obviously, that didn't happen. Three years after publishing the second edition we could write a third, entitled The Far More Broken Branch. Yes, the 111th Congress, during the first two years of the Obama presidency, produced an impressive spate of major legislative accomplishments, from a stimulus package to a sweeping health-care reform bill to major financial regulatory reform. But all were passed after contentious, drawn-out, partisan battles that left most Americans less than happy with the outcomes. And look what we have now: a long-term debt disaster with viable bipartisan solutions on the table but ignored or cast aside in Congress; an impasse over the usually perfunctory matter of raising the statutory debt limit placing the United States in jeopardy of its first-ever default; sniping and guerrilla warfare over two major policy steps enacted in the last Congress, health-care reform and financial regulation; no serious action or movement on climate change, jobs, or the continuing mortgage crisis; and major trade deals stalled yet again despite bipartisan and presidential support.

 

Read the following 4 pages here>> CLICK HERE FOR PAGES 2 TO 5

Views: 54

"Destroying the New World Order"

TOP CONTENT THIS WEEK

THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING THE SITE!

mobile page

12160.info/m

12160 Administrators

 

Latest Activity

tjdavis posted a video

“What’s His Motive?” - Inside The Mind of George Soros

In this short clip, Patrick Bet-David, Sebastian Gorka Adam Sosnick, and Tom Ellsworth George Soros and what motivates him to do the things he does. FaceTime...
yesterday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
yesterday
cheeki kea favorited Bob of the Family Renner's photo
Tuesday
cheeki kea commented on Doc Vega's blog post Plausible Explanation Behind Recent Cryptid Sightings in the Wild!
"If you're ever out there Doc V and notice giant two legged birds roaming the wilderness be…"
Tuesday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Tuesday
Burbia commented on TommyD's group The Chuckle Hut
Monday
Doc Vega posted blog posts
Sunday
Doc Vega posted photos
Saturday
Doc Vega posted a blog post

Ashrams and Moonies Perfect Case for Mind Control

 In the late 60’s and into the 70’s we saw a strange phenomenon emerge! That was the rise of cults…See More
Aug 22
Doc Vega posted a blog post

Modern Progress

 From some things you just can’t come backNot everyone has your backIt might just be a nuclear…See More
Aug 21
Bob of the Family Renner favorited tjdavis's photo
Aug 21
Less Prone favorited Sandy's discussion Sick sci-fi sex fantasy written by Epstein's first benefactor people say inspired his twisted island... before author's SON ended up arresting him
Aug 21
Doc Vega commented on tjdavis's photo
Thumbnail

Now Playing

"They sure as hell are! "
Aug 20
Doc Vega commented on Doc Vega's blog post Plausible Explanation Behind Recent Cryptid Sightings in the Wild!
"cheeki kea, yes they have already produced a Wooly Mammoth by crossing DNA from frozen remains in…"
Aug 20
Less Prone favorited tjdavis's photo
Aug 20
Less Prone favorited Bob of the Family Renner's photo
Aug 20
Less Prone favorited tjdavis's photo
Aug 20
Less Prone left a comment for Misteri
"Welcome back!"
Aug 20
tjdavis posted blog posts
Aug 19
tjdavis posted photos
Aug 19

© 2025   Created by truth.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service

content and site copyright 12160.info 2007-2019 - all rights reserved. unless otherwise noted