The Congress and the People

As I was just saying, Americans shouldn't complain so much about their government, because their government does what they tell it to. At the moment the approval rating of Congress is headed for a record low, but why? It seems that everyone is irritated by the spectacle of the budget fight. We are irritated, though, for three reasons: independents because they don't understand why there was such a big fight, Republicans because Republicans didn't fight hard enough, and Democrats because Democrats didn't fight hard enough. Jennifer Steinhauer on what Congressmen are hearing from their constituents during this recess:

In middle school auditoriums, retirement centers, recital halls and other such venues, angry constituents are deriding their representatives for the spectacle of the past month over the raising of the debt ceiling. But in many cases, the anger is less about the dissension that brought the nation to the edge of default than frustration with both Democrats — including President Obama — and Republicans that their side had not been tough enough.

“I sometimes wonder,” said John Joslin, 70, a Democrat reflecting on Mr. Obama during a town hall-style meeting on Tuesday with Representative Betty McCollum, Democrat of Minnesota, “Whose side is he on? He’s almost Republican. He’s just rolled over and rolled over and rolled over, and I hope that you, as a progressive, can somehow add some steel to his blood.”

Preston Davis, 48, of Payson, lamented, “Republicans chasing Democrats to the left, and I hate it when the party deserts me.”

Ponder for a moment that notion that the current Republican House is somehow left wing, and then wonder no more why they are acting so bizarrely in office: it's what their constituents want.

Representative Tom Graves, Republican of Georgia, told an audience of about 100 in Fort Oglethorpe this week that he did not vote for a final deal to increase the debt ceiling, because: “I believe compromises are what got us into this mess in the first place. You can’t compromise your way out of it.” He was met with thunderous applause.

I actually agree with representative Graves that "compromises are what got us into this mess in the first place." Under Reagan and again under Bush II we had budget compromises that went like, "we'll support your tax cuts and defense increases if you support our entitlement spending," and that has been disastrous. What we need, though, is not an end to compromise, but a return to the sort of compromise we had in the 90s that gave us a balanced budget, with Republicans supporting tax increases in return for Democratic support of spending cuts. But that won't happen until the people insist on it.