It is very frustrating to watch Congress be so ineffective. It is equally frustrating to live in such a gerrymandered region that voting the people being ineffective out is virtually impossible (or feels that way). I have contacted my Congressional reps multiple times about this. And yet when they speak publicly or in Congress it's to increase the division. Political parties are not teams and Congress is not a competitive sport. We have to get back to discussing how to meet in the middle when discussing funding the government and other important legislation. When have any of us ever gotten everything we've wanted? Why would government policies be any different?
At least in competitive sport they can shake hands afterwards. These people can’t even do that. Competitive teams seem to do a better job at representing their towns and states better than so many of our elected officials.
My experience 100% My Rep's office will go so far as to use the title "Mrs." to address me in response to my emails despite my selection of Dr when I fill out the mandatory email form on their site. And the canned responses I get are mostly off-topic or a "thank you for supporting [policy I don't support that's maybe tangentially related to my email]." I promise that I'm being clear, concise (there's a character limit) and polite. I've replied to some of these responses clarifying that I don't support the issue that they thanked me for and mentioning that it's not ok to use the wrong title for me when I use the proper title (Representative or Congressman) in my letters. I get delayed bouncebacks even though I know that those email addresses are not unmanned (I've confirmed with congressional insiders). It's disrespectful and childish. And I'm not going to accept that it's the fault of the staffers. They are under the direction of their boss, and no one else treats me this way. I've written to all my federal level representatives.
That is frustrating! I recently moved from a deep red to a purple area and it's night and day. The way representatives talk, vote, act, etc. I had one local rep who was always so condescending before he often started his letters to me reminding me he didn't need my vote or votes of people who disagreed with him to stay in office.
This rep was not my favorite person 🤣 I tried really hard to have conversations with him about issues important to me (local issues, not national) and it just got me nowhere so I just stopped. It was obvious he didn’t care to hear from constituents who weren’t just praising him.
I wish we had federal initiative petitions! We could pass one line one easily: PASS A BUDGET—your main job—OR DONT GET PAID UNTIL IT’s DONE. (No back-pay!)
TRUE. It would be a hardship only for the people in Congress that depend on their Congressional salary, I wonder how many actually do. If some don't depend on their Congressional salary, then it could become a battle between the haves and have nots-- creating another leverage point that could be armed in bad faith.
My husband is a retired federal employee I remember when I think Clinton was in office the threat of a shut down just before Christmas. We had four young children. The thought of no income until the government got their act together was so stressful. At the same time there were people voicing their opinions on chat rooms as if we were free loaders complaining about not getting a hand out. He worked hard , put in his 40 hour week for the department of defense. He was doing his job. It was congress that was foregoing their responsibility and we were going to have to pay for that. We were fortunate enough that it was resolved but I have never forgotten that stress and feel for the families that now face this fear it seems every year. Congress needs to do better
In case this is helpful for the upcoming election, The Lugar Center creates a bipartisan index for all members of Congress each year (latest publication is 2023). You can look up your Senators and House member to see where they score. Perhaps if all of the electorate focused on seating candidates with a higher bipartisan indexes, we could bring back compromise and governance. ❤️
My congressmen is 332nd. No kidding. Mark Greene of Tennessee. He wanted to drop out and not run for reelection, but a controversial presidential candidate told him he had to run so he is. That SMACKS of dedication.
I just moved and my current House rep is sub-200 😬 But they are not running for reelection, so our district has an opportunity to change things up. I am definitely paying attention to which of the candidates is promoting bipartisanship cooperation and consensus building.
I would love to see an index like this for State Legislators too ‼️
It's interesting moving from a deep red to a purple area my reps and their scores changed so much. The purple area have my reps positive and sort of in the middle of the pack. The red area they were negative and closer to the bottom. When your district isn't gerrymandered you really have to work for that vote from all constituents!
Very happy, and surprised, to see one of our TX senators ranked in the top 5 for bipartisanship! Not surprised to see our other senator is ranked in the bottom 10.
Oh, here we go again, blaming “Congress” and “politics” as a group. Go back to Newt Gingrich, who laid out and brilliantly executed a strategy of making Congress so vitriolic and dysfunctional that voters would want to throw everyone out, which would be mostly Democrats since they were voted in due to policies popular with Americans. Or right wing extremist Grover Norquist and the never tax and other purity pledges that hampered any efforts to compromise. Or Tony Perkins, one of the most influential Christian conservatives ever who said “When it comes to conservative principles, compromise is the companion of losers.” Or go back to the Tea Party activism years ago that arose out of fury over passage of the Affordable Care Act and was bolstered by floods of cash from conservatives to attack Republicans in primaries who were even slightly centrist or even showed an inclination to work with Democrats. I could go on but I think history shows pretty clearly why only one party routinely runs campaign ads that attack opponents for the “despicable, traitorous” act of reaching across the aisle to the “enemy.” It is not hard to see how we got here, nor is it difficult to see who to vote for if you want to try to change things.
I like the way you lay this out. Certainly, everyone has the ability to be incalcitrant, but the facts remain that one party has made refusal to work with the other their party platform, and I'm not sure we do anyone any favors by pretending that everyone is behaving the same way. It doesn't always take two to tango - sometimes there is a bad actor.
I think part of the answer is us. We are not all the same on this site and we have been able to remain civil. My neighborhood is not the same- but we have remained neighbors. I have choices in how I behave. I think the recent video of Biden joking with a Trump supporter about their hats was priceless. He gave a good example of how to get past this.
In the most elementary sense, government officials, in whose decisions we put our trust, by voting them into these responsibilities, holds us, their constituents, at arms length. A blatant disregard for the overall welfare of the country. In their arrogance of party over principle, these very same individuals cry outrage when they are held to the fire. It is frustrating. Frightening. And come Election Day, for me, unforgivable. They got their voice? I’ll show mine.
President Reagan and Speaker ("Tip") O'Neill had a standing lunch date once-a-week. Not altogether unusual. They naturally disagreed on most policy issues, but both vehemently agreed on the one issue that really mattered: Public Service and Greater Good. Jump ahead thirty years...and John Boehner is heavily chastised by his own party, and is ultimately forced to resign because he played golf with President Obama.
My congressman votes in lockstep with the GOP agenda. He pays no attention to the calls and letters that come from my friends and me opposing any of these measures.
I always laugh a little when I see attack ads lambasting a candidate for working with the other party. I just shake my head and think “thanks for letting me know. That’s exactly why I will be voting for them.” (It’s not the only factor I consider, but it’s a big one.)
It is very frustrating to watch Congress be so ineffective. It is equally frustrating to live in such a gerrymandered region that voting the people being ineffective out is virtually impossible (or feels that way). I have contacted my Congressional reps multiple times about this. And yet when they speak publicly or in Congress it's to increase the division. Political parties are not teams and Congress is not a competitive sport. We have to get back to discussing how to meet in the middle when discussing funding the government and other important legislation. When have any of us ever gotten everything we've wanted? Why would government policies be any different?
At least in competitive sport they can shake hands afterwards. These people can’t even do that. Competitive teams seem to do a better job at representing their towns and states better than so many of our elected officials.
My experience 100% My Rep's office will go so far as to use the title "Mrs." to address me in response to my emails despite my selection of Dr when I fill out the mandatory email form on their site. And the canned responses I get are mostly off-topic or a "thank you for supporting [policy I don't support that's maybe tangentially related to my email]." I promise that I'm being clear, concise (there's a character limit) and polite. I've replied to some of these responses clarifying that I don't support the issue that they thanked me for and mentioning that it's not ok to use the wrong title for me when I use the proper title (Representative or Congressman) in my letters. I get delayed bouncebacks even though I know that those email addresses are not unmanned (I've confirmed with congressional insiders). It's disrespectful and childish. And I'm not going to accept that it's the fault of the staffers. They are under the direction of their boss, and no one else treats me this way. I've written to all my federal level representatives.
That is frustrating! I recently moved from a deep red to a purple area and it's night and day. The way representatives talk, vote, act, etc. I had one local rep who was always so condescending before he often started his letters to me reminding me he didn't need my vote or votes of people who disagreed with him to stay in office.
😱 That is WILD
This rep was not my favorite person 🤣 I tried really hard to have conversations with him about issues important to me (local issues, not national) and it just got me nowhere so I just stopped. It was obvious he didn’t care to hear from constituents who weren’t just praising him.
That's really disappointing 😔
Love that! It’s not a competitive sport
It is a shame they are able to receive their own salaries when they fail to fund the salaries of other federal employees.
I wish we had federal initiative petitions! We could pass one line one easily: PASS A BUDGET—your main job—OR DONT GET PAID UNTIL IT’s DONE. (No back-pay!)
That sounds enticing, and it would be; if they depended on the salary we pay them, instead of other income sources.
TRUE. It would be a hardship only for the people in Congress that depend on their Congressional salary, I wonder how many actually do. If some don't depend on their Congressional salary, then it could become a battle between the haves and have nots-- creating another leverage point that could be armed in bad faith.
My husband is a retired federal employee I remember when I think Clinton was in office the threat of a shut down just before Christmas. We had four young children. The thought of no income until the government got their act together was so stressful. At the same time there were people voicing their opinions on chat rooms as if we were free loaders complaining about not getting a hand out. He worked hard , put in his 40 hour week for the department of defense. He was doing his job. It was congress that was foregoing their responsibility and we were going to have to pay for that. We were fortunate enough that it was resolved but I have never forgotten that stress and feel for the families that now face this fear it seems every year. Congress needs to do better
Absolutely 💯
In case this is helpful for the upcoming election, The Lugar Center creates a bipartisan index for all members of Congress each year (latest publication is 2023). You can look up your Senators and House member to see where they score. Perhaps if all of the electorate focused on seating candidates with a higher bipartisan indexes, we could bring back compromise and governance. ❤️
https://www.thelugarcenter.org/ourwork-Bipartisan-Index.html
My congressmen is 332nd. No kidding. Mark Greene of Tennessee. He wanted to drop out and not run for reelection, but a controversial presidential candidate told him he had to run so he is. That SMACKS of dedication.
Wow, that's truly something, isn't it? 😳 But, go, purple area! 🥳
Extremely helpful! My representative is ranked 101, and since I moved to his district, I see why. 😬
I just moved and my current House rep is sub-200 😬 But they are not running for reelection, so our district has an opportunity to change things up. I am definitely paying attention to which of the candidates is promoting bipartisanship cooperation and consensus building.
I would love to see an index like this for State Legislators too ‼️
It's interesting moving from a deep red to a purple area my reps and their scores changed so much. The purple area have my reps positive and sort of in the middle of the pack. The red area they were negative and closer to the bottom. When your district isn't gerrymandered you really have to work for that vote from all constituents!
Thank you for sharing the link! I was unaware of this excellent resource!
Very happy, and surprised, to see one of our TX senators ranked in the top 5 for bipartisanship! Not surprised to see our other senator is ranked in the bottom 10.
Thank you for the information. And the link.
Thanks for sharing this.
Oh, here we go again, blaming “Congress” and “politics” as a group. Go back to Newt Gingrich, who laid out and brilliantly executed a strategy of making Congress so vitriolic and dysfunctional that voters would want to throw everyone out, which would be mostly Democrats since they were voted in due to policies popular with Americans. Or right wing extremist Grover Norquist and the never tax and other purity pledges that hampered any efforts to compromise. Or Tony Perkins, one of the most influential Christian conservatives ever who said “When it comes to conservative principles, compromise is the companion of losers.” Or go back to the Tea Party activism years ago that arose out of fury over passage of the Affordable Care Act and was bolstered by floods of cash from conservatives to attack Republicans in primaries who were even slightly centrist or even showed an inclination to work with Democrats. I could go on but I think history shows pretty clearly why only one party routinely runs campaign ads that attack opponents for the “despicable, traitorous” act of reaching across the aisle to the “enemy.” It is not hard to see how we got here, nor is it difficult to see who to vote for if you want to try to change things.
I like the way you lay this out. Certainly, everyone has the ability to be incalcitrant, but the facts remain that one party has made refusal to work with the other their party platform, and I'm not sure we do anyone any favors by pretending that everyone is behaving the same way. It doesn't always take two to tango - sometimes there is a bad actor.
I also believe cable news is much to blame for the extreme tribalism and partisanship.
I think part of the answer is us. We are not all the same on this site and we have been able to remain civil. My neighborhood is not the same- but we have remained neighbors. I have choices in how I behave. I think the recent video of Biden joking with a Trump supporter about their hats was priceless. He gave a good example of how to get past this.
So true. It was playful and authentic.
I love this so much! ❤️❤️❤️
In the most elementary sense, government officials, in whose decisions we put our trust, by voting them into these responsibilities, holds us, their constituents, at arms length. A blatant disregard for the overall welfare of the country. In their arrogance of party over principle, these very same individuals cry outrage when they are held to the fire. It is frustrating. Frightening. And come Election Day, for me, unforgivable. They got their voice? I’ll show mine.
Not really on point but kind of interesting, coming out today: Scientific American, for only the second time in its nearly two century long history, has publicly made a U. S. Presidential endorsement and laid out in detail its reasons for doing so. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/vote-for-kamala-harris-to-support-science-health-and-the-environment/
President Reagan and Speaker ("Tip") O'Neill had a standing lunch date once-a-week. Not altogether unusual. They naturally disagreed on most policy issues, but both vehemently agreed on the one issue that really mattered: Public Service and Greater Good. Jump ahead thirty years...and John Boehner is heavily chastised by his own party, and is ultimately forced to resign because he played golf with President Obama.
I wonder if it also had anything to do with Boehner calling Ted Cruz a jackass. Too bad it wasn't Cruz who left and Boehner who stayed.
I wonder which party refuses to compromise... 🤔
I want to share some of the words in here in ALL CAPS on Instagram. People are getting high on the “fight” at our own peril.
How do I link the Substack to Instagram?
My congressman votes in lockstep with the GOP agenda. He pays no attention to the calls and letters that come from my friends and me opposing any of these measures.
I'm very sorry that is the situation in your congressional district. 😞
Me too! I have backed his opposition in the last several elections, and we have come close to beating him, but haven’t quite managed it yet 🤞
Hopefully this election will be the one! 🤞
I am *so* grateful that our representative is one of the sane ones. He'd better get re-elected--!
Mine, too! He does wonderful bipartisan work. 😊
I always laugh a little when I see attack ads lambasting a candidate for working with the other party. I just shake my head and think “thanks for letting me know. That’s exactly why I will be voting for them.” (It’s not the only factor I consider, but it’s a big one.)
“We the people”, need to make our voices heard at the ballot boxes!
Thank you, Sharon! ❤️❤️❤️ The subject of today's newsletter is so very important for all of us!