Is Congress Obsolete?

[thefinder808]

   I know to some this may sound like a crazy conspiracy theory (and maybe it is) but I felt like I should say it anyway. Have you guys been hearing the rumblings in the media (including social media) saying how congress is so slow, horrible approval rating for Congress, or just how gridlocked and useless Congress is? People with half a brain know that it WAS DESIGNED to be inefficient, to prevent the federal government ramming through legislation that isn't in the best interest of the people. Congress is SUPPOSED to be inefficient! However, lately I've been hearing more and more about how useless our House and Senate are...mainly from leftist media groups. So looking forward, and taking into consideration the liberal agenda, what conclusions can one draw from these rumblings? In my humble opinion these rumblings and complaints are just the beginning. They are the first steps toward making the populace believe that Congress is obsolete. With no legislative branch what office do you think will absorb their powers? The executive. 

 

   I'm not saying this will happen soon, I think it's many years down the road. I'm also not saying that the House and Senate are full of intelligent people with our best interests in mind, because it's not. It's full of corrupt, self serving, power hungry people. I'm just sharing something I've been turning over in my mind, and wanted to know if anyone concurs. 

 

                                                                       Thanks

                                                                               TheFinder

[Steelharp]

Obsolete? Nah. Obtuse? Certainly.

[Glenn]

I think the executive wants the people to think congress is obsolete, and sometimes congress seems to be trying to prove him right 

[sgjay]

The current admin. would have you believe that the entire constitution is obsolete. Weneed to get back to the way the founders wanted it.

[hipower]

The current admin. would have you believe that the entire constitution is obsolete. Weneed to get back to the way the founders wanted it.

 

That certainly has been evident from the actions of the Lib/Dems the last few years.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

Both sides have been part of the tyranny. Just allowing the fiscal problems to continue is squarely on the right in the House.

In the Senate it is because of the leader not allowing certain bills to be voted on and is shared blame otherwise. Add the fact

that the President wants to destroy the Constitution, blame is everywhere. The media is trying to destroy our confidence in

all things government, so it caused me to stop watching them.

 

It is not obsolete, so don't give up on it so quickly. Just work toward better representatives. If it did become obsolete we won't

be a country.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Gridlock is the ideal state of congress, but at least they ought to pass a fictional budget every year. I'd be glad to see their pay doubled if they would promise to go up there and do nothing at all, or at least as little as possible. Except protect their turf from the other branches. Elect more lazy congressmen and senators. Productivity, passing more laws, doesn't help us much. Quit helping us so much. Please.

 

Heard about some survey finding the majority of people think government does more harm than good. You can find surveys saying about anything you want though.

 

It doesn't help if government is slow, if they are always doing the wrong thing when they ever get around to doing anything at all. But a good case can be made of an analogy of government as a servo feedback control system. The time constant is important designing a servo system. If the system responds too rapidly you get over-steer, and if it responds too slowly you get under-steer. The economy is such a massively complicated system with both positive and negative feedback, and incredibly long time constants, that it is virtually uncontrollable, and every time you try to add control nudges, the effects wring out so far into the future that there's no way to tell if you are doing good or harm. Wisest thing to do is keep a light hand on the controls, if not hands-off entirely. Every time you steer it, you haven't any clue whether the steer will be good or bad years into the future.

Edited January 17, 2013 by Lester Weevils

[thefinder808]

Just to be clear, I definitely don't think that Congress is obsolete. I'm saying that's how the executive branch will seize (even more) power, by convincing people through the media that Congress is obsolete. 

Edited January 17, 2013 by thefinder808

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Just to be clear, I definitely don't think that Congress is obsolete. I'm saying that's how the executive branch will seize (even more) power, by convincing people through the media that Congress is obsolete. 

 

The roman senate persisted long after it was good for nothing except a rubber stamp for the emperor. I agree the process should be maddeningly slow in most affairs. The things they take upon themselves to regulate, such as the economy, are also glacially slow to change. Trying to change it all of a sudden is as useless as trying to hold back the tide. If it is HARD to make new law, and takes a long time to make new law, then hopefully the "panic cause" for new laws will be gone before congress ever manages to pass a new law. If conditions are so persistent as to still require a new law after congress manages to finally pass one, it gives cooler heads a chance to prevail.

 

Executive should be severely limited in what it can do, constantly badgered by congress when executive oversteps its bounds. Executive can move fast, but moving fast can cause instability from over-steer, or at best merely waste lots of resources when administration A spends lots of money steering hard right but the nation doesn't change much, and then administration B spends even more money steering hard left to "undo" changes that didn't even take effect from administration A, because of the massive inertia in the system.

 

Maybe congress actually should work real hard, constantly harrassing and investigating the executive branch. That would give both congress and the executive branch something useless to do, so they wouldn't mess us up trying to be "useful". Stay away from that wheelbarrow son, you don't know nothin about machinery!

[Raoul]

The current ascendency of the executive branch is the result of the work of Dick Cheney. He laid the groundwork with W. This of course is directly connected with Cheney and Nixon.

You reap what you sow, and we're on the receiving end.

The role of Congress is to slow down the process by being an inept body, with the Senate supposedly being the "sane" legislative body.

As bad as it seems it's working. President's come in all flavors and think they know what's best, but the ineptitude of the legislative branch has saved the union on more than one occasion by suppressing the executive branch.

 

It's a hell of a way to run a railroad, much less a nation.

[Guest 6.8 AR]

When we see a horse being made the Majority leader in the Senate, not a horse's ass, we can safely say it's over.