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My hopes for a more productive 113th Congress were summarily dashed when Allen West received two votes for Speaker of the House, along with a not too short list of other ridiculous, "you've got to be kidding me" nominees. It reminded me of a scene in the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean, At World's End, where the Brethren Court of pirates convened and held an election for pirate king. In the film, Captain Barbosa explains that no pirate is ever elected king because each of the pirate lords always vote for their self. It seems like this is the path that House Republicans are taking, each serving in his or her own best interests politically, not giving a moments consideration to their constituency and even less consideration for the good of the country. It would be entertaining to watch the GOP cannibalize itself if they weren't risking the health and prosperity of real human beings while they devour one another.
So we kicked off the New Year with John Boehner postponing the vote on the "fiscal cliff" after Vice President Biden and the United States Senate worked until 2 am to pass legislation and then as an encore, The Speaker postponed the vote on a relief package for victims of Hurricane Sandy 20 minutes after he promised the NY/NJ delegations the vote would take place--with no explanation, of course. Those of us who follow the machinations of Congress know that the impetus for Boehner's retreat was because the Tea Party faction of his caucus essentially bullied him into postponing the vote and The Speaker, lacking any characteristic that could be remotely construed as Leadership, handed over his Congressional lunch money. The next two years of Congress is already shaping up to be a hold over from the last two; more obstructionism and no one really cares who gets hurt.
Which brings us to a difficult question: How do we fix it? I mean, we held an election that should have been a loud and clear message to the Republican Party. This country re-elected President Obama by an overwhelming majority in both the electoral and popular vote. We returned Democrats to a majority in the Senate and gave them a few extra seats into the bargain, and if it were not for Republican gerrymandering, the Democrats would have regained control of the House as well. Democratic candidates received more than one million more votes than Republican candidates, after all. Despite being in a position that required a Democratic candidate receive 7 votes for every one vote needed to elect a Republican candidate, the Dems still picked up seats in the House as well.
Even in light of these circumstances, the Republicans act like they won the election and refuse to see the evidence that proves they held the House by the hair of their carefully gerrymandered chinny-chin-chins...opting to view their now shrunken majority as their mandate. Despite polling that shows Congress is less popular than the IRS and the entire country turning Communist, the Republicans say to themselves, "YES!! This is what the people want!" My own Representative in Congress had the audacity to declare in a pre-election debate that he was proud of the "accomplishments" of the 112th Congress. No--he wasn't kidding either. How very sad and delusional these Republican Congresspersons have become.
So, we were talking about a solution to repair what will no doubt prove, over the coming two years, to be an increasingly broken, do-nothing government body. The fix is simple, but forcing Congress to self-govern and repair itself will be the hardest thing in the world to do. It consists of three simple, two syllable words; campaign finance reform.
Radical, common sense campaign finance reform is the complete fix for all that ails our broken legislative branch of government. Even Biblical scripture denounces money as the root of all evil and to this day, no truer words have ever been spoken, especially within the context of Congressional elections. The acquisition of money is the driving force behind everything a Congressperson says or does...or doesn't say or doesn't do throughout their tenure as an elected representative. I believe this to be true even more so for members of the House than the Senate. Senators are elected for six year terms, and the public's memory is short. Members of the House are only elected for two years, so their actions are more acute and more likely to remain fresh in the public mind. The simple truth remains that members of both branches of Congress are on a constant quest to fill their campaign coffers from the day they take the oath of office.
If the constant drive for the almighty dollar were removed from the equation, our Congress would be far more likely to operate as "of, by and for the people" rather than "of by and for the people most likely to contribute to my campaign." This has never been more glaringly apparent than it has become in the harsh light of the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court. Still, despite the billions of dollars that were spent in the last election, we now know that at the end of the day the power still resides with us, the voters. This gives us hope that real, far reaching change can occur.
Over the course of 2013, campaign finance is a subject that we will visit and re-visit in the pages of this blog. We will examine the process of how a person runs for Congress and what role money plays in a campaign and as part of the legislative process. Most importantly, I hope to start a conversation on how we can change current campaign finance rules and how to get members of the 113th Congress to take a stand on this crucial subject.
So, off we go, boldly into 2013. I wish for you and for those you hold near and dear, a very prosperous and joyous new year. I wish for the members of the 113th Congress a productive new year...one that consists of meaningful legislation that moves our country forward. I'll settle for a year that has more actual new legislation than continuations, amendments, and the renaming of Post Offices and Federal buildings and lands. To quote that fictional character again...Allons-y!!
How can we fix the Congress? I feel we need to elect people who are willing to compromise. Thinking back to the Clinton administration when for the last 6 years had both houses controlled by the Republicans, it was possible to get the legislation pass, and a surplus.
ReplyDeleteThis time it is much different. The so called Republicans presently have a 235-199 advantage in the House. (Jesse Jackson, Jr's seat is presently open). How many Republicans will be willing to vote against the Tea Party obstructionists? That's the only thing we can hope for until 2014. For the Fiscal Cliff fiasco 85 were willing to side with the Democrats. Will that number stay that high when the debt ceiling vote happen in March?
Even if enough will side with the Democrats to pass important legislation, we still have John Boehner as the Speaker of the House, and as we saw with the Hurricane Sandy funds, he can decide what to bring to the floor and what not to bring.
So, in reality it points to the fact that we need to have a democratic majority elected in 2014. That will bring a new leader to the House, and a better chance to get some of the people's work accomplished. Of course, we can only work to change our representative, and hope that 18 or more districts can also change theirs. Recently I heard that Nate Silver recently reported that there are only a small amount of districts that can change from one party to the other. (I don't remember the exact number, but I thought it was in the 40s). The DCCC has also narrowed it down to thirty or forty key districts,and ours, NY 23rd, is one of them. It is not too early to start getting our friends, neighbors, and other contacts to be thinking of replacing Rep. Tom Reed.
Even though Reed voted for the fiscal cliff and he was somewhat outraged about the anti-Sandy feelings, he is strongly in favor of cutting and changing Medicare and Social Security. He voted, again , to defeat Obamacare, and he supports subsidizing the Oil/Gas Industry. He has an "A" rating from the NRA, and he will keep it by telling us what he thinks on the gun violence issues. He can not be depended to support middle of the road issues.
Reed, the incumbent with a large war chest funded mainly by Corporate PACs, narrowly defeated an underfunded 28 year old who was not known outside his home county six months before the election. We know that Reed is a weak candidate, the DCCC knows he is a weak candidate. We have to get a democrat's vote from 48% to 50.1%. It is definitely do-able, and it will definitely b better for the country.
I'm glad you're back blogging.