As co-author Mike Johnson and I started drafting Fixing Congress, I had one objective that required two steps. That objective is to stimulate a national discussion and action to fix Congress.
To accomplish that objective, There are two essential steps:
1. Negative public attitudes about Congress indicate most folks don’t know much about what the Founders had in mind when they created Congress as the policymaking branch of the federal government. It is easy to see why when you compare what some were taught in civics classes to what we see and read in the news. They do not have much in common. Students today are not even taught that much.
Before Mike and I could suggest options to make Congress more effective, we needed to renew the reader’s knowledge of the legislative branch, the Constitution’s first branch. Building on the Founders' ideas, we explore the pressures that have molded or distorted the present-day Congress. Some positive, many negative. They range from disastrous decisions about 111 years ago that changed Congress’ nature and tax collecting to the growth of lobbying, the shrinking of a single voter's influence over policymakers, to outside campaign funding that now exceeds all reasonable boundaries in a democratic society.
2. Once that foundation was rediscovered, we outlined options to again make Congress the People’s House with dominant influence over policymaking. Today, most folks have grown accustomed to the media’s impression that the President is the policymaker, and then voters tune out that less democratic way of making public policy when it does not reflect public views. Some, mainly younger folks without much background in US history, are even flirting with support for non-democratic systems of public governance.
We devote chapters to exploring how the change to direct election of the Senate resulted in two overly reactionary bodies without the benefit of the anticipated “republic” influence of thinkers beholding to the interests of their home states. We question why the constitutional process of only naming two senators from each state who each serve six-year terms has not been modified so each state names a senator every federal election. Such a change would constantly refresh the state’s engagement in a continually evolving US Senate.
We dig into the unintended changes that have led to serious campaign financing abuses undermining your influence in your democracy. Logical reforms requiring donors to be identified and limited in their donations to candidates or parties unintentionally allowed outside artificial groups to donate or spend almost unlimited amounts to influence those elections.
Why should a billionaire thousands of miles from you have more influence than you can legally express as a local resident? Through non-profit organizations, they can pour millions into advertising to promote their policy choice in YOUR STATE.
We explore the good and bad from two constitutionally protected quarters: the major media and lobbying. Both are assets in a free society but dangerous when abused, which seems to be more common today. How can the public understand issues before Congress if the media behaves like partisan advocates or fails to report objectively on the details of policy debates? How are limitations on lobbying circumvented by systems that allow corporate, union, or ideological groups to stay within the boundaries of the law and yet motivate residents to lobby in their interest with a one-sided spin?
All that analysis comes to a head in chapter 14 of Fixing Congress. We offer strategic and tactical reform alternatives that review numerous process issues ranging from how Congress deals with appropriation bills (spending) to taxation. We question the lack of visibility and accountability of Members voting inside committees or on the House or Senate Floor. We ask why the most important bills are frequently clumped into omnibus bills that are too large and complex for even Members of Congress to read, much less be understood by the press or voters. Why don’t voters know what their “representative” is doing and how they are voting in their name?
There are ways of Fixing Congress. In our book, we inform readers so they understand Congress, its assets, and its problems. We encourage readers to think and advocate for the best ways to accomplish our common objective: Restoring Power To The People. A rejuvenated Congress can again become the chief policy maker of the federal government and truly reflect the views of the American people!
— Jerry Climer