The Tea Party v. The True Nature Of Congress

I am loving Delaware senator (Vice President Joe Biden's temporary replacement) Ted Kaufman these days. After his appearance on The Daily Show yesterday, I've been feeling that this is exactly the type of person that should be working in the Senate. He's bright, he's clever, and he has a very clear idea of how Washington was designed and how it works today. But, after a mere two years of filling Joe Biden's empty seat, he's getting out. And I think this is a beautiful example of the old adage that those that seek political power are some of the least deserving of it. At his appearance, he makes a mention of the Founding Father's intentions of both the House and the Senate: The House is a direct voice of the people, with new members every two years, and is much quicker to pass legislation, while the Senate is essentially put in place to stop the majority of this legislation from proceeding. The framer's of the constitution set out to create a deliberative body that slowed or stopped the more fiery and inconsistent influence of the people (the House of Representatives), while still giving people an active role in government legislation.

This reasoning flies in the face of what most people want or expect from Washington. Most politicians claim that they are working to streamline the Congress, to "fix the system", and to allow the people more direct access to the mechanics of government. I really wonder if they truly believe it, or if it's just election strategy designed to drum up some anger from constituents. The most recent development in this line of thinking is the "Tea Party" movement - a group of (mostly) true Washington outsiders running on a platform of a combination of conservative issues, the allure of electing a Washington "outsider", and more and more of this idea that Congress is broken and needs to be fixed. At first, I wondered what this country was coming to. Why would a ridiculous movement like this gain any traction, and what sort of people would be there to support it? But, as I delve deeper into the history of this country, I can see a very real trend of movements similar to (most even more radical than!) the Tea Party. Going all the way back to the beginning, several factions were very (very!) divided on the role that state, local, and federal government should take. The country split up in 1860, which isn't really that long ago. Third parties have gained widespread support at certain points in the last century. The president has claimed more and more power relative to other branches at times, and then the Congress steps up and takes it back. The point I'm getting at is that as crazy as times seem right now, it is all just part of the ebb and flow of our government. And, it's all happened before. Everything bizarre and unsettling that is happening in this current mid-term election has happened before,and will no doubt happen again. We will all just have to put our faith in the fact that Democracy won't stay too far from the equilibrium that keeps everfything in line.