Tag: dysfunctional government

Government Shutdown and congressional leadership

Government Shutdown and congressional leadership

Posted on by Jack

As we go into the 8th date of Government shutdown 2013 and have an even more serious issue in the national debt ceiling to deal with in about a week, I thought I would start by quoting myself. Last week I wrote that I thought giving the major parties excessive power is one of the root causes of the current stand-off on funding the government in Shutdown is failure and a result of giving parties too much power.

The leader of the dominant party in each part of Congress sets the agenda in his part of Congress and the 2 parts of Congress are controlled by different political parties now. Therefore each part of Congress does not always get to vote on what the other part has passed. …

Should each part of Congress have a nonpartisan officer who sets the agenda, perhaps with a set of rules and oversight of some sort. Both the Senate and the House already have some nonpartisan officers but should we consider adding one who sets the agenda for votes? Or maybe we could keep the existing leadership structure but limit the discretion of the leader?

Another option is suggested by No Labels. In their plan to address this issue is that a bipartisan majority would be able to override the leadership refusal to bring a bill to the floor for a vote.

They have also other ideas to make Congress function better. Have a look and if you agree, please sign their petition and consider supporting the organization in some other way.

The Parties Versus the People by Mickey Edwards

The Parties Versus the People by Mickey Edwards

Posted on by Jack

The Parties Versus the People: How to Turn Republicans and Democrats into Americans by Mickey Edwards is an important book. I was lucky enough to read an advanced copy via NetGalley .

The United States political system is dysfunctional. Surprise! Surprise!

We the people are theoretically in charge yet the people we elect to represent us refuse to compromise and so are unable to govern and solve our country’s problems. The obvious conclusion is that there is just too much partisanship. Where Mickey Edward’s book rises above the common political discussion is in proposing solutions.


About a year ago Mickey Edwards expressed these ideas in the Atlantic. Mickey Edwards had been a congressman and then a professor of government so he knows what he is talking about.

Yale University Press gave him a platform on which to expand his ideas into a book.

The overriding theme is that we have given up too much of our control to the 2 major political parties. This is done on several levels. Parties limit our choices to a few candidates. Once one of these candidates is “in”, he or she is then beholden to the party for both current power in office (example, committee assignments in Congress) and the chance to be re-elected. Every 10 years the party in power (in most states) gets to redraw the electoral map for its own advantage and usually to the detriment of any real community representation.

At times the book may seem a bit repetitive but that is only because there are so many problems and so many solutions, all related by the common theme – too much power to the parties at the expense of the people. To make it more complicated the rules vary from state to state. And the power of parties to restrict access to those of their choosing and redraw districts is at the state level.

This book is not a diatribe against parties. It is natural to have a diversity of opinions in any large group. It is also natural that people with similar opinions would associate and even sometimes form groups like our political parties. These associations can be useful.

The author is objecting to our current system which is party-driven. He gives many examples of the resulting problems and suggests ways to reduce the power of parties and so enhance the power of politicians to work together for the common good. The book is well worth reading. It won’t be out until late August so you can pre-order now and read the Atlantic article in the meanwhile.