We often hear complaints about congressional “gridlock.” The congress, we are told, can’t get anything done. Time to set the record straight.
When we think of gridlock, we think of traffic jams — streets clogged with bumper-to-bumper vehicles not moving. No one going anywhere, nothing getting done. That’s pretty much what we think of when someone says that congress is “gridlocked” — nothing getting done. Usually, “gridlock” starts getting thrown around when a Really Important Bill, widely perceived to be of greater than normal importance, is having a hard time getting passed.
But “gridlock” is far from the normal condition. The very TV show that inspired me to comment on gridlock mentioned a transportation bill that had among its features, an allocation of money to paint a particular bridge and (I kid you not) a provision setting the duration for the “Walk” signal at a particular intersection in a particular city. Gridlock? Nothing getting done?!? This sounds to me more like micromanagement. FedGov has its fingers in absolutely everything. (See the First Law, especially the second and third corollaries.)
Rather than bumper-to-bumper cars, envision a fleet of congressional ambulances racing about, careening from place to place, stopping just long enough to “help” out and leave the patients confused and in disarray before speeding off to “help” someone else. That’s the normal condition of congress.
With 435 representatives in the house, 100 senators in the senate and each of these members having a staff to help them manage, congress is never gridlocked. Plenty gets done. Count me among those who say that way too much gets done. Congress is perpetually meddling in everything.
As for that one Really Important Bill that can’t get passed, maybe if the congress just did those things that the Constitution actually empowered them to do, there would be lots and lots of time to devote to the Really Important Bill and they could get it out the door.