Rudderless Congress
Defending himself and the U.S. Congress against criticism for passing the U.S.A. Patriot Act without having read it, Rep. John Conyers, D – MI stated “If we had to read every bill we voted on, we’d never get anything done.”
Put another way, Rep. Conyers’ statement says “If we had to actually know what we were doing, we’d never get anything done.”
Sadly, this is the norm in Washington. Members of Congress are called upon to do so many things that it was never intended for them to do that they have no time for the one thing they’re SUPPOSED to do – pass legislation that is necessary to preserve the union of the states.
Today, the primary activity of members of Congress is dealing with constituent complaints, problems, and concerns. After all, what better re-election campaign volunteers can one ask for than constituents who have had their problems personally addressed by their senator or representative?
In the meantime, the responsibility for writing bills falls to aides, clerks, and sometimes lobbyists and, in the case of the U.S.A. Patriot Act and the “No Child Left Behind” act, the executive branch. (And what’s the EXECUTIVE branch doing writing legislation, anyway?)
On top of that, when it comes time to vote on a bill, as Congressman Conyers confessed, our representatives rely on others to read the bills for them. Actually, it’s doubtful that any single person reads any bill in its entirety, since the average bill is 600 pages long and the congress passes close to 400 of them every year. I remember listening to a radio talk show back in the nineties on which a sitting congressman stated “I don’t know how I’m voting on a particular bill, until I ask the aide who is accompanying me to the chamber ‘How am I voting on this one?”
Obviously, the people whom we elect to Congress aren’t really in control of the whole process. And if the people we elect aren’t in control, how can we think that WE’RE in control, simply because we elect them?