Con-Gress

Posted on 2009-03-25 by David

As much as it may be fashionable to blame congress for many of our problems I think it is fair to take an unbiased look at how congress functions. As I began to do so I realized that no matter how numerous my complaints about the legislation we hear about and the legislative process itself I am pleased to realize that Congress is working as designed by the founders.

I’m reminded of an old joke:

If "pro" is the opposite of "con" then Congress must be the opposite of progress.

It turns out that the major thing that Congress does as designed is to slow down the process of law-making. Obviously we have seen recent exceptions such as the ever-popular bailouts and the patriot act where Congress acted faster than it was meant to act, but the fact that such legislation is so shoddy is proof of why the House and Senate are intended to be deliberative bodies.

What I was very happy to realize was that while I may complain when Congress takes a decent proposal from the executive branch and strips it down (or gums it up) to a barely palatable law, it also takes poor proposals from the executive branch and dilutes them up until they are marginally less toxic. So while we may complain that nothing can come through Congress clean, we should also recognize the flip-side of that truth – that bad legislation is never as potent as it would be without congressional intervention.

I know that the founders envisioned a Congress that would, through their deliberation, pass good proposals with little alteration while preventing or significantly improving poor proposals. That is the ideal for which we should continuie to strive, but at least we can approciate the fact that even a poor congress has some beneficial value to the people.

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Federalist Nos. 59 – 61

Posted on 2009-03-24 by David

Federalist Papers  59, 60, and 61 discuss the power of Congress to regulate the elections of members of Congress. This power is meant to be exercised by the individual states while allowing the federal government to make some blanket provisions to ensure some uniformity within the union. Some people worried that Congress might be able to make some rules which would favor some people over others with respect to the ability to be elected as a member of Congress. I found it very interesting that Hamilton stated:

the circumstance which will be likely to have the greatest influence in the matter, will be the dissimilar modes of constituting the several component parts of the government. The House of Representatives being to be elected immediately by the people, the Senate by the State legislatures, the President by electors chosen for that purpose by the people

Since then we have changed so that Senators are elected immediately by the people and there are growing numbers of people calling for a direct election for the president. As I have always argued on that topic, the establishment of an electoral college was made for reasons very different from an inability to counts the votes of all the people of the nation.

This subject also serves as an additional evidence of the value of having the states serve as laboratories of government. Often the various Federalist Papers discuss the virtues of the Constitution by comparing it favorably to the various state constitutions.

One final observation by Hamilton led me to an interesting if totally impractical idea:

I am inclined to think that treble the duration in office, with the condition of a total dissolution of the body at the same time, might be less formidable to liberty than one third of that duration subject to gradual and successive alterations.

Rather than advocating term limits of the form that no member may serve in office more than 12 years perhaps we would be better served to say that every 8 or 12 years all sitting members of the house may not stand for re-election – that would impede if not destroy the infusion of any improper spirit that may prevail in congress "into the new members, as they come forward in succession."

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Federalist No. 58

Posted on 2009-03-23 by David

I was tempted to not closely read Federalist No. 58 because I already knew that the assumptions it contained, however accurate they may have been in the 18th century had been rendered obsolete int he 20th century. For the first 120 years of our history the size of the House was expanded as the population grew. In fact, it was expanded 10 times in those 120 years with each expansion averaging over 30 new seats.

Had that trend continued we would have a house of over 700 members today. Instead 98 years ago, in 1911, the size of the house was expanded for the last time to 435. Aside from a temporary expansion when Hawaii and Alaska became states and the potential of adding two new seats in order to give a voting seat to Washington D.C. our population has more than tripled in the last century while our House size has stagnated. It’s time for use to force Congress to do what the founders intended by augmenting the size of the House as our population increases. We should require that Congress not ignore this action in the future by adding a Constitutional amendment stipulating a maximum number of people to be represented in a congressional district. (The Founders were wise enough to stipulate a minimum in the Constitution.)

Thankfully I did choose to read the whole of Federalist 58 and I found this one caution to the idea of unchecked expansion of the size of the house:

Experience will forever admonish them that, on the contrary, AFTER SECURING A SUFFICIENT NUMBER FOR THE PURPOSES OF SAFETY, OF LOCAL INFORMATION, AND OF DIFFUSIVE SYMPATHY WITH THE WHOLE SOCIETY, they will counteract their own views by every addition to their representatives. The countenance of the government may become more democratic, but the soul that animates it will be more oligarchic. The machine will be enlarged, but the fewer, and often the more secret, will be the springs by which its motions are directed.

This should not stop us from returning to the practice of expanding the size of the House in proportion to the growth of the population, but we only need look to the way that public opinion is so fickle in  raging against a $165 Million bonus while standing silent in response to bailouts one thousand times as large and spending proposals (which are each another 5 times larger than the bailouts) to recognize that the caution remains true. While we are expanding the House we should not get so carried away that we dilute the power of individual representatives within the House. At least we have the Senate in place with it’s smaller size to help mitigate the potential weaknesses of a House too large. It’s time to once again have one legislative body where the representatives are connected to their constituents rather than being concceted to their chamber.

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Two (or more) Wrongs Don’t Make a Right

Posted on 2009-03-20 by David

I was listening to Peter Schiff’s Wall Street Unspun for this week and he said something that cemented a change of perspective I had been considering regarding the AIG bonuses. I had been thinking about this idea of taxing the bonuses at 100% and relizing that it amounted to an ex post facto law – which is specifically forbidden in the Constitution. What Peter said was that Congress was wrong to bail AIG out in the first place and that if they hadn’t AIG would not be able to pay these bonuses now. Secondly, he said that if they had wanted to stop the bonuses they should have done so up front by making it a condition of receiving their bailout money. (He also accurately pointed out that the excuse that these bonuses should not be necessary to reatain AIG employees in this economy – few people would leave their jobs in a climate of rapidly rising unemployment and smart companies should be avoiding the employees from the division that crippled a company the size of AIG.)

Between the Constitution and the logic of Peter Schiff I realized that as much as I dislike the fact that these bonuses are being paid I cannot support Congressional action to tax them back after the bonuses have been paid and after the bailouts have been given. Simply stated, Congress is acting immorally anytime they try to change the rules after making their promises – it’s solid proof that they should not have made those promises in the first place.

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Federalist No. 57

Posted on 2009-03-19 by David

Federalist No. 57 contains a statement describing the proper goals of any constitution boiled down to two simple points:

The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.

In defending the provisions in the proposed Constitution the following defense was sound in theory but two centuries of growing experience has led to a Congress that is masterful at the art of public obfuscation:

the House of Representatives is so constituted as to support in the members an habitual recollection of their dependence on the people. Before the sentiments impressed on their minds by the mode of their elevation can be effaced by the exercise of power, they will be compelled to anticipate the moment when their power is to cease, when their exercise of it is to be reviewed,

The members of the House are always aware of their impending re-election bids so they carefully craft the perception of what they are doing by hiding legislation and casting votes in a way that makes them look good back home even when they are working for the opposite results on some issues when the cameras are not around.

Next I find our present society perfectly captured:

what is to restrain the House of Representatives . . .  above all, the vigilant and manly spirit which actuates the people of America, a spirit which nourishes freedom, and in return is nourished by it. If this spirit shall ever be so far debased as to tolerate a law not obligatory on the legislature, as well as on the people, the people will be prepared to tolerate any thing but liberty.

(emphasis added)

The numbers in the latter part of this paper regarding the number of people electing a member of congress are almost comical today. In 1788 we might have trusted that two members of congress would feel connected and answerable to 60 Thousand constituents but there is little doubt today that one member of congress may easily feel little connection with 600 Thousand constituents (a small district).

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How Do We Maximize Political Power

Posted on 2009-03-18 by David

This is a question – not a dissertation. I would like to get more perspectives and experience than I have on the question of how citizens can have the most political influence. Suggestions must be activities that all citizens can participate – in other words, holding office does nto count because if I hold an office you can’t hold that office. Things like voting in general elections, primaries, caucus meetings, or party organizing conventions as well as activities such as writing to the newspaper or your elected representative are what I aam looking for – in other words activities where my action on an issue does not take away your chances of partaking in the same activity.

I’d like to know which activities are the most effective at bringing about the changes that citizens might be seeking and why. I’ll be sharing my own experience and the input I receive in a future post.

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I Missed An Option

Posted on 2009-03-17 by David

When I listed the options yesterday for how to deal with the AIG bonuses I obviously missed one. One member of the house thought up the idea that we could tax AIG bonuses at 100 percent. The beauty of his bill is that it is written to apply to large bonuses at any company receiving TARP funds. I like the concept because it leaves private businesses (meaning those not being propped up by Uncle Sam) free from any new restrictions in compensation and id does not affect the people getting small bonuses (the ones least responsible for the problems). The biggest change I would have made to this idea would be to lower the threshold from $100,000 to $25,000 or less.

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“Our Hands Are Tied”

Posted on 2009-03-16 by David

Despite rumors to the contrary, this country is still based on the rule of law – especially when the law favors a guy who has a "bonus" in excess of $6 Million dollars coming to him. By now almost everybody has certainly heard about the $165 Million of bonuses being paid to AIG execs. In a discussion on NPR this morning Renée Montagne asked why the government could not cancel the payments considering that they own 80% of AIG through their $170 Billion in bailouts. The answer was that the government can’t just rip up an existing contract because this is a country ruled by law. That is a nice answer that is true on the surface so long as you only give it a passing glance in near total darkness. Just since the beginning of this year Congress has passed a law allowing judges to rewrite the terms of an existing, legal mortgage contract. (I use that example not because it is better or worse than nullifying the payments of bonuses stipulated in a legal employment contract but because it is so similar to what we are saying can’t be done because we are a country ruled by law.)

The question remains, what does all this mean. We do not actually want to become a country where the government can come alter a private, legal agreement anytime they decide it would be a good idea to do so. Let’s see what we can learn from some of the options that have been proposed.

Tear Up the Contracts

If we want to admit that we are not a country that follows our own laws this would be the best course of action. That’s not going to happen because it runs contrary to our sensibilities as a nation. We may break our own laws, but we won’t admit it openly like this. A "bonus" that is guaranteed is no bonus, it’s a salary – one that these executives have proven they don’t deserve. A company that would offer or even accept an employee on such compensation terms should not be receiving a government bailout – in fact it should not even be in business.

Executives Voluntarily Forgo Their "Bonuses"

This would be the morally correct course of action for those who stand to receive their bonuses. This won’t happen because those who will receive the bonuses know that having AIG on their resume for 2008 may make them virtually unemployable for a while if they ever need another job. They also know that AIG is not financially sound even with the government money it has received so they can’t be assured that their current jobs won’t evaporate. They are going to take what they can get legally for as long as they can so that they can ride whatever storms may come their way.

Give Them Another Bailout

This one won’t sound popular on the surface – and it won’t happen either – but I have to throw it in here. This was an early idea of mine. The government should offer AIG another bailout that would be structured like so – The government gives AIG another $135 Million in bailout money on the condition that all those who stand to receive bonuses sign a contract that nullifies their bonuses – thus the company receive the benefit of an extra $300 Million while the taxpayers only foot another $135 Million of the bill. If AIG refuses the offer (which they would) it would prove that they don’t need the money as much as we were told to believe they were – just like the stories on NPR this morning about all the banks who are opting out of the TARP funds because of the "excessive" restrictions that Congress has written into the TARP legislation (plus those who want to opt out, but aren’t sure they can). The fact is that many of the businesses that are taking our government funny money are doing so because it’s being offered more than because they need it. (Why put yourself at a competitive disadvantage if you can stomach the attached strings?) I hope that Congress continues to make these funds more and more restrictive.

Reduce Their Salaries to $1 for 2009

I wish (but doubt) that the nation is not foolish enough to fall for this ploy. This is the most likely course of action because it is the one that AIG has proposed. Most of the people getting these bonuses should not even be employed based on their past performance. Reducing their salaries would be a generous act even if we were to also strip their bonuses. Besides, they may take a salary of $1 for the year, but they will also take a new bonuses next year after our outrage has died down (and they’ll weather our new outrage again if need be). Most of them are receiving bonuses that exceed the annual income of the majority of American households. They can live on the $1 salary comfortably if they want to because of the bonuses that that "punishment" would allow them to take.

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End of the Session

Posted on 2009-03-13 by David

When the legislative session started in January my representative, Becky Edwards, promised to blog each day of the session. Now that the session has ended I want to thank her for keeping that promise as well as the rest of her efforts to keep her constituents informed of what she was doing to represent us including publishing her votes each day for the last half of the session (every day since she got the vote tracking tool to record her votes – a total of more than 300 votes before yesterday).

I hope that she slept in today as much as she deserved – and then I’d love to see a list of the votes she cast yesterday. (It’s probably a huge list.)

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Senate Session Wrap Up

Posted on 2009-03-12 by David

The legislative process has been compared to sausage making and we are often told that we don’t want to see the process. At the blogger meeting in the Senate President’s office yesterday what we got among all the talk about various bills was a peek at the sausage making process. Personally I found the insight fascinating because what we may be aware of in the process may not be representative of the reality. I think the best thing that I could do with that is to share some of the notes I took at the time – here they are as I wrote them (with links added later):

Before the meeting started I heard a very telling comment between a couple of interns – they said that nobody could possibly have any idea of what actually happens at the State Capital by reading/listening to the news.

Glen Warchol just showed up and the tone of the meeting immediately changed to be more confrontational. He’s complaining about the ethics bill and the rule about legislators turning lobbyist. Specifically we have Senator Stephenson who is a lobbyist by trade. It seems to me that the people have the choice to elect a lobbyist if they choose. Electing someone and then having them become a lobbyist is a different issue.

Look at the Voter Registration bill – SB25

Glen just left – I’m betting that the rest of the meeting will be more congenial from here on out.

The idea of VMT in place of (or addition to) gas tax is not happening now. I had suggested on a comment once that we could use our odometer readings rather than GPS tracking. Sen Killpack (majority leader) made the observation that out of state trips would be taxed by that method.

Ric Cantrell "If citizens abdicate their responsibility there’s nobody to pick up the slack."

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