The Joy of the U.S. Congress

"Congress has been paralyzed," said author Neil Irwin this morning (6/11/13) on WHYY. His book, The Alchemists: Three Central Bankers and a World on Fire, a newly published work, demonstrates the powers of the Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), as well as large central banks like the Bank of England.  I mention it because Mr. Irwin quoted this phrase "Congress has been paralyzed" to juxtapose the quick acting banking system in the crisis we are are still in against slow moving governments like ours. Although we were better than many during this crisis thanks to things like the Troubled Asset Relief Program. I know firsthand because we got a few million dollars here in New Jersey government for energy conservation projects at aged state facilities. At least TARP helped us, and many others. In general, that's how it seemed to me.

The paralysis of Congress, which I've heard and read elsewhere, only demonstrates the flaws of the archaic two-party system in America.We have huge problems, yet the House of Representatives has voted over 30 times to repeal the Affordable Health Care for America Act (Obamacare). Wouldn't their time have been spent better by fixing the things wrong with it thru amendments? But consensus on those tweaks has been impossible to come by because of internecine strife. Thirty-nine Democrats voted against the bill, seemingly because they were in left-leaning districts. The original bill only passed in the House by five votes.

Think of thirty million needy Americans without health care access if it hadn't passed.

Of course, we don't know the real reason why, because these elected representatives don't have to vote their conscience, they can vote for any reason. Sometimes the reasons pander to specific political action groups, or even donors. Sometimes they say, "My constituents don't agree with it," and vote "Nay" without trying to correct the problem areas. And when a bill is 1,990 pages, who can agree with every word? Especially when each page is anywhere from 250 to 700 words depending on font size?

But all that is not what I'm talking about.

The paralysis in Congress is a good example of a lack of trust. Lack of cooperation. Lack of having a higher goal rather than a personal or party goal. To me it shows many of our senators and representatives with feelings of "I'm right (or my party is right), and everyone else is wrong." Isn't that what dictators like Amin, S. Hussein, and Assad believe? As 'Abdu'l-Baha once said (Pilgrim's notes), and I paraphrase, "Anyone can serve as a bad example." And that's what many in Congress are now, bad examples. But many citizens agree with their philosophies, and November votes may put them back in office, especially from gerrymandered districts. So, those of us who want real change aren't likely to get it in a big way. Only incrementally.

But for those of us with positive worldviews, change is happening, and its going in the right direction, which is, towards the unity of mankind, and not towards separation and isolation.

Look at globalization.  We just bought another Honda because our daughter's car was crapping out after 142,000 miles. Yes we could have fixed it for $1,500 but we killed two birds with one stone, and gave her our 2008 CR-V, which is only five years old and not ten. The point? Our newer CR-V parts could have come from China, Canada or the United Kingdom, and could have been assembled here in Ohio. Globalization will only increase at an exponential rate.

Mankind never really goes backwards. For example, we learned that with the burning of books didn't we? We're still learning it with currently banned books like Mark Twain's the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (in a few school districts), or Lolita during my youth. Other examples of backwardness maybe intelligent design vs. evolution, or the sun revolving around the earth etc. But you get the point again, right? The point isn't that offensive things shouldn't be written or published, or even read (although I prefer all three sometimes), its that as society grows, norms change. There are even "clean" versions of the Bible.

Differing opinions is one thing. We should encourage that BUT ALWAYS IN A CIVIL MANNER, in fact, Shoghi Effendi reiterated, "The shining spark of truth cometh forth only after the clash of differing opinions" Right now in Congress we have plenty of opinions, plenty of clashes, and very few actions towards resolutions or solutions. Yet, as in every age, we face the greatest problems now than we have every faced before. And when Congress acts together great programs come from it. Take the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the depression, or Social Security or Medicare. Can they be better? Absolutely. Change is constant. Continuous improvement should be constant.

So maybe, just maybe, this congressional paralysis will serve as enough bad examples for us to reexamine our political system and start correcting these long standing evils.

I certainly hope so.

After all, Dan Gottlieb, Ph.D., has been paralyzed from the chest down since an auto accident in 1979, and it hasn't stopped him from reinventing himself and fulfilling his potential after that and other losses. His show Voices in the Family has been aired since 1985, and like all shows on WHYY, is always informative, often inspiring, and always from the heart.

I'd like to see that from all our representatives, not just a few.

By Rodney Richards, NJ