09 November

[Dill]

(10-22-2016, 06:28 PM)JustWinBaby Wrote: Maybe if Congress was actually run like a business, but I don't see what we get for that experience. "Dealmaking" isn't that hard or difficult when you have good ideas in a non-partisan atmosphere.  Experience, as in experience on committees (and presumably based on some real life/business experience prior) is definitely great, but in Congress committee choice is more like "this will be fun for a bit" or "I have an interest in a bill coming thru there this year".

Political "experience" usually is about deal making, arm twisting, fundraising and ass kissing....and lying....I don't see where we get any real value from any of that.   When that's the qualification to get something done - again a lot because of power accumulated without term limits - what you don't have is a lot of qualified people CAPABLE of doing something good.

If Congress were run like a business, we wouldn't have a democracy. Running a government is far more complex. And voting for bad Congressmen is what puts unqualified people in Congress, and that occurs in part because people have so little civic knowledge, and because we have so much unaccountable money behind our elections.

Writing a bill that will get through Congress, and then getting it through, is no easy matter. "Experience" means that you know a lot of people personally, and those grey areas in their positions where you might get them to agree with something, what "bargains" they might accept in other legislation in return for support you want now. You know how constituencies or lobbyists constrain their votes. Experience also means that you know the machinery of government bureaucracy--don't need the boundaries of law constantly explained to you, as does the current Republican nominee. And it means that over time you have seen the unforeseen consequences of various combinations of statues. You not only know how to get bills passed, but you become better at foreseeing which ones should not be passed, even if they have support.

A Congress of members constantly re-inventing the wheel is a daunting prospect.