Why can’t we get things done collectively? There are many reasons why our personal plans fall short. One common reason is that our plan is not well thought out. A cure for this is to collaborate with someone. “Two heads are better than one”, attributed to John Heywood in his Dialogue of proverbs (1546), is solid folk wisdom.
For the bigger challenges of our time such as gun violence, ruining the planet, and chaotic and massive human migration, we need to look deeper.
Looking to Congress for Solutions:
Three inputs influence the decisions made by our congressional representatives: we the voters, interest groups and the affiliated political party. The importance of each input depends on the situation. Logically, to keep getting re-elected, the voters come first. But, not so fast!
| Voters: |
| Members of congress tend to spend much more time in their home states and districts than in Washington D.C. They anticipate what the voters want through public opinion polling. The more sophisticated polling is, the better their message can be focused on what the voters want. Representatives pay the most attention to their constituents when they are voting on bills because votes can be checked. They also depend on direct services, called casework, to insure re-election. |
| Interest Groups: |
| The main activity of an Interest group is to provide information and language that can be used in writing a bill or making a policy case to constituents. Interest groups are most influential at the committee stage of legislation. Their language tends to exclude provisions rather than adding. It is difficult to see that something has been left out of a law. They also contribute lots of money. |
| Political Party: |
| A disciplined, unified and strong party leadership can put pressure on an individual member to vote a certain way. If there are vocal factions within a party, there is less pressure to vote along the party line. |
With this mix of “help” and responsibility in mind, why can’t congress get the most important legislation passed? It seems like getting anything accomplished is less important than vilifying the other side and getting re-elected. (It’s a great job with lots of sweet perks.)
Gun Control?
You might expect Congress to tackle gun problems energetically. After 20 first-graders and 6 others were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, there were attempts to control assault weapons, limit the magazine capacity, and tighten background checks. These bills failed in the Senate in April 2013.
The murder of 19 children and 2 teachers in an Uvalde, Tex., elementary school by a teenager with a gun briefly energized a debate. Days before so did the killing of 10 African American customers at a Buffalo supermarket by another teenager with a gun. The sad reality is that we already have moved on to other cases.
Volodymyr Zelensky, offers condolences: | “Deeply saddened by the news of the murder of innocent children in Texas” |
No major gun-control bill has passed Congress in ten years since the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre , until June 2022, when President Biden signed into law the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. The package represents the most significant federal legislation to address gun violence since the expired 10-year assault weapons ban of 1994.
The NRA in a release sent less than 30 minutes after the legislative text became available pronounced:
“This legislation can be abused to restrict lawful gun purchases, infringe upon the rights of law-abiding Americans, and use federal dollars to fund gun control measures being adopted by state and local politicians.”
| Maybe the voters are being ignored! |
| A Pew Research Center survey conducted in September 2019 found that 60% of Americans say gun laws should be tougher, up from 57% the year before and 52% in 2017. An APM Research Lab survey released in August 2019 found widespread national approval of red flag laws, with 77% of Americans supporting family-initiated extreme risk protection orders and 70 percent in support of those initiated by the police. |
Maybe a reason: according to Open Secrets here are the top five recipients of “special interest” gun money in 2022:
| Congress Person | $ Received | Vote |
| Johnson, Ron (R-WI) | $183,212 | No |
| Kennedy, John (R-LA) | $133,180 | No |
| Paul, Rand (R-KY) | $121,522 | No |
| McCarthy, Kevin (R-CA) | $93,096 | No |
| Scott, Tim (R-SC) | $80,549 | No |
