1494 Capitol Offense

What’s Wrong with Congress?

Where to begin?  The subject is really too big for a 500 word Wessay™.  But let’s give it a shot anyway.

1. They do too much.  Most laws are meaningless.
2. They don’t devote enough time to not doing too much.
3. They’re all playing to the cameras, yet cameras don’t vote.
4. Too many committees, subcommittees and sub subcommittees.
5. Too costly.
6. They yell and blather and strut and are so busy making points for and against each other over nothing that we ought to start giving out dunce caps and “time-out” rooms.

What would help?  

Other than hall monitors, they could be required to read what little legislation they pass and take a test on it before being allowed to vote.

They could curb their enthusiasm for lobbyists or at least confine them to something like a classroom on parent-teacher nights.  Fast conferences.

Maybe Representative and Senator should become licensed professions, like doctors and barbers. And drivers.

A friend suggests that America has proven it doesn’t want to be represented.  After all, look who we elect.   

We joke about these people.  But there’s nothing funny about a hall full of men and women whose full time job is getting re elected and who moonlight by occasionally writing a law and voting on it.

We have stopped paying attention to issues. We have become philosophers who want only to know where a candidate stands on the left-right scale.

One of the potentially beautiful things about the American Democratic Republic: our representatives are free to vote their consciences regardless of campaign promises or other words of fiction.

But in order to vote your conscience, you need to have one.  There’s little evidence of that in the current mob.

It’s not fair to blame the sewer that is congress for all our problems.  After all, congress has to deal with Presidents who send us to undeclared wars, whether in Vietnam, the Middle East or Latin America.

And congress has to deal with a Supreme Court full of activist judges with scripted to-do lists.

Maybe it’s something in the water.

Shrapnel:

--World soccer czar Stepp Ladder fell off the top rung plenty fast when his consiglieri was caught funneling bribe money.  All of which goes to show that Fifa is no better than the NFL or the NCAA.   And neither is its sport.

--There are almost as many new phone and tablet apps popping up each day as there are new blogs.  How many is too many? How many do you actually use?

Grapeshot:

--RIP Jean Ritchie, 92, folksinger, folklorist and carrier of her Kentucky traditional music to the rest of America from her home on Long Island.

--There is no truth to the rumor that John Kerry faked his broken leg because Swiss restaurants don’t serve Heinz Ketchup.

--There is no proof to the rumor that Yoko Ono had an affair with Hillary Clinton or even directly claimed to.

--If you see Caitlyn Jenner on the street, sneak up behind her and call out “hey, Bruce!” and see if she turns around.

I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®

Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com

© WJR 2015