What are the chances that you will ever be happy with Congress?

[ProSense]

There have been 19 new Senators elected since 2004. Two are being replaced. Also, two new members will replace Hillary and Biden, for a total of 21 new Senators added between 2007 and 2009.

Benjamin L. Cardin
Amy Klobuchar
Claire McCaskill
Jon Tester
Sherrod Brown
Robert P. Casey, Jr
Sheldon Whitehouse
Bernard Sanders
Jim Webb
Mark Udall
Tom Udall
Mark Warner
Jeanne Shaheen
Kay Hagan
Jeff Merkley
Mark Begich
Al Franken (pending)
Barack Obama's replacement (elected in 2004)
Ken Salazar's replacement (elected in 2004)
Joe Biden's replacement
Hillary Clinton's replacement

The 111th Congress will have a 58-59 Democratic majority. With two Senators from every state, and every state being different, there will always be something.

What are the chances that you will ever be happy with Congress?

[babylonsister]

1. Slim to none. Same as it ever was. nt

[TexasProgresive]

6. You said it right, sister! n/t

[PBS Poll-435]

2. If "con" is the opposite of "pro," what is the opposite of "progress?"

:P

[Auggie]

3. Not until every one is a Dennis Kucinich clone

[ProSense]

8. Why hasn't Kucinich run for the Senate? n/t

[Auggie]

9. Probably way too liberal for the rest of Ohio

[karynnj]

16. That will never happen - and the lack of diversity would be awful

No one is perfect. Though I could joke of wanting clones of my favorite Senator, it would not be as good as getting a similar number of really good different people. 1) Sometimes you will disagree with your favorite - if he/she is a thoughtful person, he/she will listen to arguments of others and the synthesis will be better than the position of either before they worked together. 2) Not all places would be willing to elect whoever is cloned - no matter how wonderful - so some people will be completely unhappy with the entire Senate. (Consider there may be a demented person somewhere - maybe in Oklahoma who wants Inhofe clones, not Kuchinich clones - that could well be your worse nightmare - just as Kuchinich clones would be his.

[Auggie]

25. karynnj, my friend...

You are so correct in your response. Didn't mean it literally of course.

What I love about D.K. (and he is not my representative) is that he always seems to be fighting for what's best for people. That's the type of representation I want.

:hi:

[karynnj]

27. I didn't interpret it that literally

John Kerry is the statesman I trust the most and I think he is extraordinarily smart, diplomatic and hard working and he is a moral man who values his integrity. I was not visualizing 100 6 ft 4 inches men moving swiftly through the halls of Congress all speaking of their idears - ah that would be way too much - and would make it look like CSPAN was playing on the wrong speed. What I meant was that there is something to gain in interacting with a very diverse group of people. Even if the "Kerry" clones only shared his basic point of view, values and world view something would be lost - even if initially it seemed great and enormous changes following those common ideas. That WOULD be better than the extreme opposite we have now which is intense divisiveness.

My point was that the disagreements often end up pointing out other ways that don't have the flaws not seen by our side. Sometimes those changes don't come from the other side - nothing makes you think out your detailed positions more than having to defend and define them to people who do not already agree.

I think that many Senators are fighting for what is best for people - the difference is that they disagree on what is "best".

[S_E_Fudd]

4. I'll be a lot happier in 5 days...

But I do think Dems have done a good job this last session. They did pass a number of important items, and held the Repubs feet to the fire on a number of others...

I think with an expanded majority they will do even better

[Forkboy]

5. Too much shit to be done to ever be happy with them.

[SwampG8r]

7. im 52 and never happy with congress

never have been never will most likely
congress is designed towards compromise and i like getting my way

[karynnj]

19. I thought they were really pretty good in the wake of Watergate

There were some pretty incredible Senators then - Pell McGovern, Church, Birch Bayh, Magnuson, Fullbright, Culver, Case, Hart, Muskie, Kennedy (yeah - he's still here) - and may others I have forgotten. In all a Senate and House way to the left of where we are now.

[Two Americas]

10. never

What a ludicrous concept. Why would anyone ever "be happy with Congress?" Happy implies content, at ease, passive, satisfied. We should never be happy in some general way with our elected officials - that is contradictory to good citizenship in a representative democracy.

This is like saying "what eating again? Didn't you eat yesterday? Will you ever be happy?" The difference is that with Congress we didn't eat yesterday. Nor the day before, nor the day before that...

We are either happy with something Congress did (it couple happen) or we are not happy with what Congress did, at any given time. Being happy with Congress just because? That is absurd and very authoritarian.

[Dlicious]

11. If anyone in the USA is so ill-informed that they think

that the US Congress is what they need to make them happy in life, I am very sorry for them.

If they, (or you) expect to be happy because of something the US Congress does, they (you) have missed a whole life of their (your) own.

Learn how people get along with each other, learn how that is never perfect, even between two married people, them move on from there.

Either do that, or give up on life.

[bigwillq]

12. Well, the US Congress does have the power

to pass laws or deny laws that can very well make someone happy or not.

[Dlicious]

13. No law makes a singe person happy in life

It can give more opportunity, that is all, opportunity, not "happiness".

Learn the difference.

[bigwillq]

14. One law can very well

be the difference between two people given the right to marry or not.

[Dlicious]

18. I agree, one law is all that we need for that, but

Can two people be happy without the law?

I know my married and unmarried friends of all sexes and orientations don't need a law to be happy every day.


I wish they had that law, and will work for it, but happiness is not required for it......no reason not to work for it, but happiness is apart from Congress, I hope we all know.

[bigwillq]

20. People can indeed be happy

without that law, without most laws but it would be very, very nice to be recognized as an equal to another human being.

[Dlicious]

21. Can't diagree with that.

Nothing more important than when every human being is really equal.
I will work toward that.

[ProSense]

24. You're confusing issues.

The OP isn't about being happy in life. It is about being happy (call it satified, pleased, etc.) with Congress. It's specific to Congress.

[zulchzulu]

15. I wish people would take a Civics 101 refresher course before they complain about Congress

First of all, legislation is meant to take time to pass all houses of congress before being signed by the President.

If you look at the classic example of how in 1970, with a solid Democratic House and Senate majority, it still took three years to finally get legislation that incrementally passed that ended the extremely unpopular Vietnam War.

I could chart it all out, but believe me, the Founding Fathers made it so that a very vocal minority could not pass draconian legislation without some steps to amend. It's not to say that progressive causes are like that; it's that it takes time to get comprehensive legislation to get passed.

I can hardly wait for people to complain that we don't have universal healthcare by July 4th...

[Dlicious]

22. Most people never bothered to learn how Congress works

Still think magicians work in Congress, in 222 years I have yet to see one of them.

[redstate_democrat]

17. Why should we be happy with them if they're not giving us what we want?

What have they done for us lately?

[Dlicious]

23. Try to learn what a legislative body does in a Democratic Republic

You seem to have a deficit in what American history and government is all about.

No magicians there, no kings and queens either, just study what American government can and cannot do !

[redstate_democrat]

28. Please hush.

[woodsong100]

26. "Happy with Congress?"

I'll be happy with Congress when I feel that they're working for average Americans like me. We'll see, with the new Congress and new President, but I doubt that I'll ever be happy with most Republicans.

[Hippo_Tron]

29. Congress is designed for consensus and gridlock...

Which gives the impression to the masses that the legislators are "not earning their pay". I rarely blame congress for not passing something. I blame Americans for being uninformed, unengaged, or just plain wrong.