We are plagued by a cowardly Congress, motivated by self-interests, special interest money, and afraid to vote on controversial issues lest they are vilified in the media or held accountable by their constituency in the next election cycle.

If you haven’t noticed, Congress has ceded much of its constitutional duties to their leadership. The legislation is created in secret, behind closed doors, by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and a cadre of a few acolytes.  The bills are then presented, without the possibility of amendment, for a limited discussion, and an up-or-down vote. The dirty trick is to include some “must-pass” provision in the bill and then create campaign commercials when the opposition votes “nay.”

Much of that legislation is little more than an outline written in legalese, with the actual tough decision-making and implementation left to the administrative rules and regulations promulgated by the various Executive Branch agencies which then assume the force of law.

The only things that the politicians appear to care about in these overly-technical outlines of legislation are its carve-outs, definitions, conditions, and loopholes.

The Members of Congress neither thoroughly read nor understand the majority of the legislation being presented for their vote. Politicians have an over-reliance on staff to react to the proffered legislation, which is in line with their party positions and the prevailing special interest lobbyists.

The politicians’ greatest fear is a single-issue bill on a controversial subject that requires a recorded vote.

The politicians speak of fiscal responsibility but fight to ensure that their district gets its “fair share” of the pork in the form of contracts, grants, projects, and government facilities that require unionized employees.

They speak of fixing problems, yet the poverty, literacy, disease, decay, and crime continues to exist year-after-year, decade-after-decade.

They spend money on nonsensical projects while our electric grid remains vulnerable to a natural or manmade EMP (electromagnetic pulse) event. They are about building new and shiny vanity projects because there is no glory in repairing, replacing, or building-out our existing crumbling and decaying infrastructure.

Politicians fight with the opposition, not to benefit the American people, but to continue the charade of “doing something.” In many cases, the self-interests of both parties are aligned in the twin goals of preparing for the next election cycle to preserve their power, prestige, perks, privileges, and profits as well as feathering their own nests -- including the nests of family and friends.

Politicians are reluctant to discipline other misbehaving politicians, full-well-knowing that both sides have their fair share of grifters and reprobates. And, most of those in Congress have taken shortcuts that must remain hidden away in the closet, along with the other skeletons, far from the view of the American people.

Even the media plays the game in return for access, leaks, and advertising profits, knowing that executives, anchors, journalists, and commentators have been terminated for offending the wrong politician. Their obeisance made more so by their reliance on government money being fed to their parent corporations -- or government agencies that regulate the media through licensing, taxation, and other perks and privileges. 

So all “We the People” are left with is to vote for the lesser of two evils. A choice presented not by real competition, but by party selection and promotion.

We are so screwed.

-- steve