I’ve got a little joke for you: If “pro-” is the opposite of “con-,” what is the opposite of “progress”?
Anyway… if only every Congress were as unproductive as the 113th Congress has been. It has been so monumentally torpid that it is being dubbed “the Do-Nothing Congress.” The Washington Post reports:
According to congressional records, there have been fewer than 60 public laws enacted in the first 11 months of this year, so below the previous low in legislative output that officials have already declared this first session of the 113th Congress the least productive ever. In 1995, when the newly empowered GOP congressional majority confronted the Clinton administration, 88 laws were enacted, the record low in the post-World War II era.
This is a good thing, honestly. At this point, we can have no hope that the majority or even major minority of Congressional actions will be for the good. Probably the best we can hope for is Congressional inaction. So long live the Do-Nothing Congress!
But, not so fast. Political pundits might point to the inactivity of Congress, the dearth of Executive Orders, and the practical non-existence of an “activist judiciary” as a sign that the Tea Party dream of a smaller, more limited government is becoming a reality. Yet the civil government’s budget dwarfs most national economies and the government intrudes into our lives more than ever. If the Do-Nothing Congress indicates that the government is getting smaller, why does it seem like it’s getting bigger?
Because it is, that’s why. But not in the traditional way. The Do-Nothing Congress is a smokescreen for a more sinister shift in the way the civil government gets things done. It used to be that, if Congress wasn’t moving fast enough, the President would speed things up with extra-Constitutional “executive orders.” But even that avenue has become too traditional. Obama has signed fewer executive orders than Clinton, George W., or Reagan. He seems so “limited government,” right? Wrong.
This government does not rule by law anymore. Not even executive law. This government rules by regulation now. Non-elected officials in government bureaucracies have the power. Bureaucrats can be appointed and fired at will, their actions exist in the vast gray area of the bureaucratic void, and they are now the blunt end of government power, largely free from the intrusion of the voter’s opinion. And the bureaucrats have been very busy. The Do-Nothing Congress has enacted 60 laws? Well the Do-Everything phantom bureaucracy has enacted countless rules and regulations, often without public notice.
A Do-Nothing Congress is not a do-nothing government. If we are going to rein it in, we need to insist that the civil government legislate by law, not by bureaucracy.
This do nothing congress has failed the country and may as well do nothing from home. It will take a revolt by the people to remove the dictator, clear out the totalitarian gov’t, and restore the nation to a Constitutional Republic. May God help us.
If they have stopped bad things they are not a do nothing Congress.
I give. What bad things have they stopped?
How about bad gun control, and amnesty
Congress “failed to act” upon either gun control or amnesty which I suppose can be considered stopping them. But, we both know gun control and amnesty are far from being dead in the woods.
I like it when Congress does little or nothing. Pretty much all they do is waste the taxpayers’ money and if they’re not doing that, it’s a good day.
Only thing I’d like them to do is get the bureaucracies under control. Maybe they have to approve the regs each new one, would slow up the process.Maybe retroactive?. They could eliminate them (beaurocracies} too. As part of the process of approving new regs & eliminating old regs..
I don’t want the bureaucracies under control. I want them eliminated. I submit regulatory agencies with the power to MAKE rules is a violation of the very FIRST sentence of the Constitution.
Article 1, Section 1: All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Representatives.
NOWHERE is Congress authorized to delegate ANY portion of that power to ANYONE. If they wish to create executive agencies to ENFORCE, ore even RECOMMEND laws in specific areas, that is acceptable. Allowing them to create ANY regulations without Congressional passage of the actual regulations, is unconstitutional.
Why is it a do nothing Congress when they stop things that will be bad for the country. So if our country is on fire and and the Democrats have sent the fire trucks to put the fire out and instead of water they plan to put gas on the fire and when the Republicans stop the fire trucks they labeled a do nothing Congress.
The fact that we have a do nothing Congress, does not mean a do nothing government, and that is not the reason we have a do nothing (good) government. That is because an entirely different reason, basically because it is a Communist led government. We do not have any good American citizens in the government, so how can they do anything good. This government came about by the greatest manipulation ever known, basically by foreigners as was the fake president.
Congress is absolutely worthless. Both chambers should be bulldozed and their reponsibilities divided upon the states.
Au contraire; while in its current form it’s not been beneficial in the whole, its worth is determined by the content of the character, so if we install people of character, we’ll have a Congress of character. Remember the cartoon, “we have met the enemy and he is us”? Remove the cancer from the body (Pelosi, Franken, Reid, Bozer, Feinstein, Waters, Nostrilitus (i.e. Waxman), and all those pests) and install people of virtue–civic and religious–and things will improve. GIGO.
How the he!! do you do that? The demoncraps control the entitlement (welfare, SNAP, obamaphones, housing etc.) demographic, the illegal vote and voter fraud. If you think your vote counts for anything any more you are delusional.
You START by teaching the CITIZENS good character. The character of Congress reflects the character of the electorate. This is NOT a short term answer, but it is the ONLY answer. Fred’s suggestion to divide the power among the states only transfers the problem to a different group of politicians.
The congress has been “compromised” and infiltrated by communists who have taken control by intimidation! If there are any “good guys” left it is because they are being allowed to “go through the motions” to fool the public into thinking they are conducting business as usual!
They may be called a do nothing Congress, but what they (especially the Senate) have done is still damaging to the freedoms and sovereignty of the nation. I just wish the bureaucracy were even more less “productive” – that’s where the most damage is done unnoticed until the rules and regulations hit.
“No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.” Mark Twain
Our government is infested with progressive fascists in all 3 branches. The cultural revolution of the 60s has evolved into an entitlement society with no regard for contitutional law. If you want to keep your individual sovereignty resist government tyranny. A bit of Cloward&Piven philosophy to overload the Fascist system will collapse it because progressives are cowards hiding behind the laws they pass but never abide by. Throw the bastards out.