Three Problems With Congress

It's funny how putting 435 "leaders" in a room together and telling them to fix ONE problem by October 1st doesn't seem to work. I mean come on, isn't that why we're herded into groups of four and told to make a poster in high school? That's what they told us, no matter what job you get when you're older you need to learn how to work with people; you have to compromise, communicate and get stuff done. So you'd think 435 ivy league educated smarties would be well suited to the task, because to get into those ivy leagues you need to be a 'leader' and such. Apparently not, as even Miley Cyrus's infamous wrecking ball videos have a higher approval rating than congress' lowly 10%.

So what's the problem? Well three things are really holding up the operations on Capitol Hill, not counting the whole government shutdown deal: political parties, riders and a metaphorical rod up everyone's behind. 

Political parties are the bane of an efficient political system. The most basic tenet of democracy is voting. You vote for what you believe in and the majority wins. In a representative democracy you vote for people who best represent you. Political parties seemingly streamline that last part. Democrat or republican; you're one or the other. Does anyone else see the problem with trying to compartmentalize 300 million peoples' political views into two groups? It's like telling the world to pick one type of pizza: meat-lovers or veggie supreme. Everyone decides to pick one or the other even though most would enjoy some banana peppers with their chicken pizza. It's stupid beyond reason and exactly why George Washington didn't want our government to form said political parties. People are forced to side with democrats or republicans if they want to have a say. Since 1776 there have ZERO independent presidents. As of today there are ZERO independent representatives in the house and a whopping two in the senate. If you want your vote to count you better vote democrat or republican. Most often it comes down to picking the lesser of two evils. How do we fix this problem? Dissolve all political parties and make voting anonymous. No more house and senate whips, no more log rolling, no more trading favors, and no more filibusters. Let each individual vote on the merits of the bill instead of voting for or against the party that proposed it. And once a bill passes you deal with the result. My dad is currently sitting on the couch watching T.V. instead of working because republicans are upset Obamacare passed and can't deal with it, which transitions nicely into my next point about riders.

So what's a rider? It's an attachment to a bill that literally has nothing to do with the bill. Let's say I draft a bill

"NO I WONT PASS A BUDGET,
NO NO NO NO!"

saying that gambling is illegal for people under 18. I send it to the house and I get it back approved, but all of the sudden the bill says "gambling is illegal for people under 18...AND we're going to raise taxes by 2% to help fund a bridge in Montana." That last part of the bill is called a rider and it happens all the time. More recently there was a budget proposed in the house that would have stopped any thought of a government shutdown. Why didn't it pass through the senate? Because house republicans put a rider on the bill to handicap Obamacare. The democratic senate didn't like that and sent the bill back and here we are today. You see the two problems? One is the rider on the bill and the second is a republican house and a democratic senate. This 5 star recipe for not getting shit done has proven to be one of the best as Congress suffers its lowest approval ratings...ever. It should be common sense that when you vote on a budget bill it should only be about the budget, nothing else. But these "leaders" must know what they're doing, since they're so educated and such right?

Now for the metaphorical rod, it seems like the mentality isn't even to form a solution but rather to "win." Instead, congress is yapping away at the taxpayers' expense, blaming one another for the budget crisis while families on WIC don't get a check because nobody is getting paid to send them out. The debate over Obamacare is simple: Republicans are arguing that Obamacare is evil and will destroy small businesses, while democrats say this makes healthcare more affordable and gives more Americans access to a necessity. Yes, taxes don't help the economy, but the majority of taxes are coming from the wealthiest Americans and large corporations. Instead of solving the budget issue and keeping $200 million from going down the toilet everyday the government is shutdown because republicans decide they don't want Obamacare to take effect even though the majority voted for it. It's like a whiny 5 year old who can't figure out how to beat a game at the arcade, and instead of trying to figure it out just smashes the game to bits so no one else can play either. It's so miserably sad, to have that one job, to be in session and working and failing to accomplish it. Now instead of working together with all the brilliant minds on capitol hill congress has shut the damn government down. I have a solution, fill any budget deficits with a percentage of congressional pay. Each day those bumbling morons fail to pass a budget increase that percentage by 10%. If they go over 10 days make them sell their summer homes and keep paying. Bet you the government will be open for business bright and early tomorrow.

In conclusion there are a couple of things to get from this article. My sarcasm with the word leader which all the more increases my distaste of why it's so favorable on college applications, and my constant repetition of the phrase common sense, which is something all these people, in the most powerful government in the world, lack. The refusal of congress and government to follow basic LOGIC is beyond me and really frustrating. All I ask of you people who supposedly "represent" the citizens of this country is to stop your little teenage girl hissy-fits for two minutes so my dad can go back to work. Thanks.

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