How Bad Is Congress?

Column for week of January 6, 2014
                                   

     A survey found that the majority of people believe the
current congress is the worst ever.  This leads me to wonder if
that majority has the worst memories ever.  Perhaps they don't
remember anything prior to the last election.  If this is the case,
the current congress is always the worst.

     How can the current congress be the worst?  It didn't
enact Obama care, the Great Society, or the New Deal that are
bankrupting the nation.  The current Congress inherited a mess. 
No, mess isn't strong enough.  It inherited a disaster in progress.

     For longer than I can remember congresses past have
been working to create that disaster.  Who should bear the bulk
of the blame for the government disaster, all of the congresses
that created the disaster, or the latest one that didn't fix it?

     The current congress hasn't passed many new laws.  We
already have 200,000 pages of laws.  Lack of laws isn't the
problem.  At least this congress has done little to make the
disaster worse.  Should we be at least a little thankful for that?

     Congress's failure to enact laws isn't the result of its good
intentions.  We owe our good fortune to partisan bickering and
political maneuvering.  Don't look the gift horse in the mouth. 
Gridlock is our only friend in D.C.

     At the moment I can remember only one time since the
1940s that congress acted to significantly roll back the intrusions
and abuses of government.  Interestingly that was during the
much maligned administration of Jimmy Carter.  Congress
repealed much of the regulation of railroads, trucking and air
travel.  As a small bonus, congress also rolled back alcohol
prohibition a bit by legalizing home brewing.

     Unfortunately that congress couldn't quit while it was
ahead.  It created the Department of (Miss) Education.  Or,
perhaps the repeals were penance for saddling us with the
Department of Education.

     There is plenty to dislike about the current congress.  It is
fiddling while the nation burns.  This congress didn't start the
fire.  It only failed to use its fire extinguishers.  Firemen who
don't put out fires aren't to be highly praised.  They are a step
above firemen who start fires.

     I have no intention of praising most members of
congress.  They are failing big time.  I do condemn the
congresses past far more than congress present.

     I would gladly fire most congress critters and ban them
from even visiting D.C.  Let them back in and they will likely
become lobbyists.  There are a few congressmen I would keep. 
A one armed man could count them on his fingers.

     At least this congress has moved in the right direction by
not doing much to add to the disaster.  We should at least give
them a C- for that.  For now I would give congress an
"Incomplete."  It still has a year left to worsen the disaster.

     We can always hope that the next congress will continue
the trend and actually start cleaning up the disaster created by
past congresses.  This will happen only if the voters demand it. 
Unless voters get over the idea that passing more laws is a good
thing, the disaster will roll on.

     Passing more laws to fix the bad laws enacted by past
congresses only makes for a bigger disaster.  When, and if, some
congress actually starts repealing bad laws we will have
something to praise.  If the next congress goes back to patching
up and adding to the destructive laws already on the books, it
will  be time to take the "worst congress ever" trophy off the
shelf and polish it up.

     On second thought, why polish it?  What would be more
fitting than giving a corroded congress a tarnished trophy?

aldmccallum@gmail.com
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Copyright 2014
Albert D. McCallum