Congressional Government

            Recently my class read Woodrow Wilsons “Congressional Government” in class. I was astounded how Wilson confesses that everyday people have no clue about the actual inner workings of the government. These facts are still relevant today with the recent creation of a “super committee” that the government created in an attempt to set a balanced budget before congress. Even more astounding, my teacher probed if we could name three committees and their chairs, and nobody could even name one.

Photo From Wikipedia

            Why today with so many sources for news and C-SPAN showing almost all of the inner workings of congress, how do so few know how bills truly are formulated. It seems as if Congress wants a veil of secrecy surrounding their true workings, it’s almost like a conspiracy theory of some sort. It must be demoralizing for some of the new congressmen and congresswomen to make it all the way to Capitol Hill only to be told that if they want a bill to be passed they have to shake the right hands, make the right friends, and join the right committees. In my opinion, America is supposed to be the true democracy of the world, yet this form of Government seems like whoever can spend the right amount of time and money in the right places can do whatever they want in their careers. This is not what America was founded to be, instead of CNN showing the newest flood in Taiwan or the terrorist attack in Afghanistan why don’t they show the true destruction of democracy in America?

            Woodrow Wilson was one of the greatest visionary presidents the United States has ever had. He created the first model for a United Nations committee directly after WWI and was told that his idea was bogus and un-American. Wilson realized that the average American had almost no common knowledge of how business was (and still is) conducted in Washington. If Americans today have all of these outlets of social media such as twitter, Facebook, or Google +, there is no reason for politicians to not be trying to teach the masses how our government actually functions. Today we need a president just like Woodrow Wilson; we need someone who is not afraid to say that although America is a great nation, we are fundamentally corrupt as a whole. Until this happens, America will continue to spin downward until we eventually self-destruct as a country.

Photo Created By Ellis C.

       

     In all fairness, I cannot tear down a current system of government only to be replaced by a worse system, or by no system at all. The process of bills reaching the floor of the House should involve the people deciding the most important issues of the year at the yearly elections. Once these issues are decided we can spend a proportional amount of time with each issue on the floor to the percentage of the votes that it received by the American public. All in all, the current congressional system that America has and is using is not only obsolete, but completely un-democratic. Instead of our government listening to the people’s ideas and offering compromised solutions, they create committees to decide what will get them either the most money or the most fame.

All About Congress

Through our study of government, we looked at the different aspects of the United States government, including the election process, Congress, the presidency, and the Courts. The topic that I have found the most interesting is our study of Congress.

The first activity in our study of Congress was an activity called Congress in Action. We defined useful terms regarding Congress using our textbook and then put them into our own words to better understand them. We learned about the different people that make up Congress, such as Speaker of the House (the overall head of the House of Representatives – currently John Boehner), Majority Leader (the head of the majority party in the Senate – currently Eric Cantor), Minority Leader (the head of the minority party in the House and Senate), and whips (assistants to the House and Senate leaders who are responsible for gaining support for legislation). In this activity we also learned about the different ways debates can be conducted, such as a filibuster (unlimited debate in which a senator or group of senators may keep taking without being interrupted unless three-fifths of the chamber vote to end the debate), and a hold (tactic used by senators signaling to the other members of a chamber of legislation that they wish to withhold discussion of a bill because they intend to use delaying tactics to possibly give the bill a larger chance of succeeding).

John F. Kennedy

The next activity in our study of Congress was an activity called Congress: Representation. We looked at the different types of congressional representation and which types tend to be most popular with voters. We specifically looked at the delegate model of representation, trustee model of representation, politico model of representation, conscience model of representation, and symbolic representation. We read an excerpt of “The Legislator as Trustee” by John F. Kennedy. In his essay, Kennedy asserts that legislators have an obligation to give priority to the nation as a whole. We also read an excerpt from “The Legislator as Delegate”, which asserts that legislators have an obligation to express the will of the people in their votes. We compared the two essays to learn how they support different models of congressional representation.

Woodrow Wilson

Our final activity was reading an excerpt from “Congressional Government, A Study in American Politics” by Woodrow Wilson. This allowed us to understand how complex our Congress is to understand. Our group identified Wilson’s thesis to be: “Its complicated forms and diversified structure confuse the vision, and conceal the system which underlies its composition. It is too complex to be understood without an effort, without a careful and systematic process of analysis.”

– Abby T.

Killing the Confusion

Throughout my study of government this year, I have been striving to find out how the United States’ government functions.  Having only briefly learned about the government in the years past, I began my studies quite confused on the way our government works.  In government class, during our study of Congress, we deciphered a certain paper written by Woodrow Wilson.  “Congressional Government: A Study in American Politics” by Woodrow Wilson,  gave me an inside look at the Congress and helped me with the confusion I had.

When reading Wilson’s paper I realized I was not the only one who had problems understanding our government and that the Congress is very complex and not easily apprehended.  As Wilson says, “Congress is hard to see satisfactorily and appreciatively at a single view and from a single stand-point. Its complicated forms and diversified structure confuse the vision, and conceal the system which underlies its composition. It is too complex to be understood without an effort, without a careful and systematic process of analysis. Consequently, very few people do understand it, and its doors are practically shut against the comprehension of the public at large” (Wilson 1).  Now with the confusion of Congress established, Wilson begins to explain the make up of Congress.  While reading, I came across something I have never heard of before, the Standing Committees.  Throughout out the rest of his paper, Wilson recognizes Standing Committees of the House as being extremely powerful in Congress saying, “The privileges of the Standing Committees are the beginning and the end of the rules” (Wilson 2).  If Standing Committees are so powerful than why haven’t I ever heard of them?  What is their role in the House in which gives them so much control?  With these questions in mind, a continued looking into Wilson’s paper.

When a bill is constructed, it is then sent to the committee that has to do with the subject the bill handles.  For example, a bill concerning the nation’s budget would be sent to the Budget Committee.  Currently, there are twenty-two committees in the House, making it confusing when trying to findout where to send each bill. When a committee receives the bill, the committee chairman, the head of the committee, can decide the fate of that bill. This is where the committees get their power.  The committee chairmen have the ability to kill any bill as well as leave the billaside to not be discussed by the committee, which will also kill the bill.  Many bills are left undiscussed and the vast majority of bills never make it out of the committees.  As Wilson says, “The fate of bills committed is generally not uncertain. As a rule, a bill committed is a bill doomed” (Wilson 3).  Also, the committee chairmen can decide which bills they think have precedence of others, which I found to be astonishing.  When it comes down to it, one man has the ability to decide what bills could be enforced to the whole United States and yet this man is not the President.  All of this shows the immense authoritative power that the Standing Committees have.

After finishing Wilson’s paper, I could not believe that I had never heard of Standing Committees.  They are such a pivotal part of our government yet I had no knowledge of them.  Wilson explains the lack of knowledge about committees saying, “Congress in session is Congress on public exhibition,   whilst Congress in its committee-rooms is Congress at work” (Wilson 4).  This means that when Congress is in session, it is just for show.  However, the real work in Congress is done outside the public’s view in the committee rooms.  Seeking more  information about committees I sought out another source.  After reading this web page, which I encourage you do, Wilson’s   thoughts were confirmed and my under lying questions about committees were answered.

During my congressional studies, I learned how Congress operates and its fundamental make up in the Constitution.  However, I am still astounded that so many citizens do not know of the Standing Committees that hold so much power in our government.  I believe it is important and within our civic duties that we learn how our government works.  By my study of Congress I was enlightened on a very important aspect of government that I had no knowledge of.  In conclusion, I encourage any reader to leave comments as well as look at my annotated copy of Wilson’s paper for more information.

Congressional Representation

The Congress is composed of the House of Representatives and the Senate. In this section we studied how the Congress functions as a whole. Understanding how the Congress functions is very difficult because the public never sees or hears what exactly going on inside the Congress, says Woodrow Wilson. But in our class we have tried to understand how the Congress function as a whole and how the powers are split equally. We learned that the Congress functions through subcommittees, and each subcommittee is put together through specialization and seniority. Each subcommittee is split by specialization for example a legislator who has had experience in the military or any other armed forces would be in the subcommittee that deals with those types of issues or laws. The people who have been serving in the Congress for the longest will usually be the committee heads, which would be seniority.

One large issue that comes up with the legislators in Congress is the way the members of Congress represent their people. We learned through our textbook about the Delegate Model, the Trustee Model, the Politico Model, and the Conscience Model. The Delegate Model is when the legislator tries to do his best to represent the people but then he makes his own decisions. The Trustee Model is when the legislator considers the view of the people but then they do what they think is right for the country. The Politico Model is when the legislator does what he wants until the constituents become vocal on a certain matter. The Conscience Model is when the legislators follow the opinions of the people unless he truly believes it better to act against them for the betterment of the nation. After learning about these 4 ways of representation, I thought the best way of representation is the Conscience Model. I think this is the best model because the legislators always follow the voice of the constituents. They should feel obligated to because those are the people that voted them into that office. The legislators are supposed to be the voice of a group of people.

A conflict that still comes up now is that, how are the legislators supposed to hear the opinion of the people? With the launch of the Internet and social networking, hearing the public opinion should not be difficult at all. Almost everyone is using a social networking site or even an email account. Hearing people’s opinion as a whole can be easily noticed because there is always a cause or an issue that many people support avidly as a trend.  Hearing news about legislator’s personal life is now very easy through the social network because as soon as one person sees it and shares it with all their friends, and their friends’ share with their other friends, and information can spread within a day throughout the entire country just through social media and networking. For example Congressmen Weiner recently resigned because of a picture that was put up on twitter.