Why Congress Has No Respect

If you have been reading the news, you are fully aware of the fact that a recent Gallup poll has come out with some fairly disturbing yet unsurprising news. In this report, Congress's approval rating is at a very low 14 percent. With the swing that occurred in November 2006 to the Democratic side, many political commentators are wondering how such an event occurred. There is a much simpler answer to this: backbone.

Frequently, we have watched the Democratically led Congress back off from bills that have been divisive. Instead of standing their ground and passing the bill or allowing the right to appropriately filibuster*, the left just takes the bill away and runs off with their tail between their legs. I don't need to expend a lot of my time talking about why the Democrats are useless in Congress like I could. Their actions speak more than loudly enough.

*Under parliamentary rules, the filibuster is the means of which to hold up legislation. More importantly, filibustering is the refusal to vote for cloture, or the end of debate. With this in mind, the opposing parties have to maintain debate on the floor. It slows down the work of the legislative body, but the Senate moves at a snail's pace anyway, so no one would really notice. The maintaining of debate means the presentation of speeches. The best known filibuster is Strom Thurmond talking for a day straight to keep Black people down. But, as can be figured out, filibustering exposes the people who are against the legislation, something that would be strategically advantageous for the Democrats.