Congress and the House of political incentives

In the midst of a government shutdown, let’s take a step back and think about the true purpose of a congressman.

The original purpose of electing someone to a seat in the House of Representatives was for this person in your community to go and represent your interests.

A congressman had a vested interest in serving his district because that’s where he lived and twhere he was to return at the end of his term.

Today, this is definitely not the case.

We have career politicians who work to build their political networks so they can survive for long periods of time in Congress.

If you really think your representative’s only income is the $174,000 a year paid by the government, think again.

Your congressman is definitely getting paid money on top of that. Representatives know the name of the game, and they’re in it for the long haul.

Given that our legislative branch has completely transformed into something so distant from its original intent, it’s no wonder that our government is so ineffective.

You hear people saying “just impeach everyone in Congress because they suck and can’t get anything done.”

Although it’s true that Congress is completely useless, it’s an issue with the system, not so much the current players.

Every congressman likes to pretend he’s Robin Hood whenever he “reaches across the aisle,” which is really sad.

Oh no, somebody had better call over the Whip, one of the party’s pawns may have gone rogue.

If reaching out to other congressmen in hopes of finding a solution to a problem is considered abnormal behavior, what does this say about the way congressmen behave
normally?

Clearly this career politician, two-party system we have going on in Congress right now is not working. Our representatives are owned by lobbyists and political machines, not U.S. citizens.

Each party is obsessed with one-upping and beating the other, and this intense focus on doing what’s best for the team is in complete opposition to what congressmen should be doing: representing the interests of their districts.

Though taking down the two-party system is an almost impossible task, a simple amendment to the Constitution limiting congressional terms could really go a long way.

Removing incentives for representatives to endorse policies in hopes of getting reelected would be huge.

Congressmen might not feel the need to adhere to one of the party’s platforms, and maybe some real, unbiased, uncorrupted, agenda-less political discourse could take place on the floors of the Congress of the United States.

But until then, I really hope these great crusaders can figure out a way for us to raise that damn debt ceiling.

­— lliskey@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Luke Liskey on Twitter @compliant_rogue.