Burning Down the House

Can I tell you something?

I’m old enough to remember when the United States Congress was a place where serious people went to debate policies and draft legislation that, while certainly not everything either side wanted, ended up being a fair compromise and when enacted was of actual benefit to the American public. Or most of us at any rate. This quaint anachronism was known as governing, and it was considered by virtually everyone to be the job of government. Still, even way back then, a majority of Americans viewed Congress as a failed institution and thought its members did little more than pack pork in barrels. The vox populi was perhaps best summed up by our beloved humorist, Mark Twain, who said, “Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.”