Congress has all this "power" to make laws, make agencies, investigate, but they made no law that investigates them. They do not hold themselves responsible for the lack of oversight of the FBI and CIA during the years Alqaeda was getting strong. They gave the GAO the power to investigate the executive branch but what agency investigates congress. If you say the American people at the polls, then the american people also do so at the polls when voting for the president. It irks me to have heard her comment--she even laughed about it but no one else did.
I agree with your observations. We have less turnover in the Congress than did the Politburo in the USSR in the old days. Fewer than 10% of the seats in the House are in "competitive" elections. The total turnover (excluding retirements) will likely be around 5%. Both parties have drawn district boundaries so that there is no true election for 90% of the seats.
At one time, I thought a term limits amendment might be a start, but that's not going to happen. We could make a small step at reform by returning to state legislatures selecting Senators, but that's not going to happen either.
If we had a government that stuck to the Consitution, it wouldn't matter so much, as the effect on the economy and the population would be modest. But, we aren't going to see a return to traditional Constitutional limits either.
History shows that radical reductions in governmental authority only occur as a result of internal revolution, economic collapse or lost wars. I can't say that I am looking forward to any of these three causative factors.
Jack
History shows that radical reductions in governmental authority only occur as a result of internal revolution, economic collapse or lost wars. I can't say that I am looking forward to any of these three causative factors.
What I forgot to add was that it's 50-50 whether the result is a reduction in government or a dictatorship.
Jack