DAILY EXCEPTION

There’s a real breakdown in the system of governance in this country. Our Congressmen seem to have forgotten why they were sent to Washington. The latest betrayal of trust is by Senator Shelby who is holding up the confirmation of all of the President’s appointees. This is obscene. Congressmen were sent to Washington to conduct the nation’s business, but are actually too busy playing partisan politics (or grabbing pork for their home state) to ensure their continued tenure in power. Shelby demonstrates yet again that Washington needs fixing and now. Redsitricting is one mechanism. Force Congressmen in the House to face an electorate that looks like the country as a whole and not some gerrymandered invention of a district designed to keep them in power for ever. In the Senate,  it is time to end the filibuster. Passage of bills should need a majority in the Senate not a supermajority, which should be reserved for important constitutional issues. The filibuster worked only if it wasnt abused. Those days are now behind us. Democracies dont just function because they are a good idea or a moral form of government. They work because elected officials play both by the rules and the spirit of the system. This is not happening. Politicians need to be made more accountable to their electorate and stripped of their individual ability to cynically hold up the nation’s business for their own narrow interests. If Congressmen are not interested in governing, they should come home and let us send others to Washington who honestly are.