In his book, "The Future of Freedom: Illiberal Democracy at Home and
Abroad," Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, writes that
expanding the number of congressional committees and subcommittees (which
began in 1974) and opening up the system to more public access had a
downside. The post-Watergate reforms were meant to "make Congress more open
and responsive," writes Zakaria. "And so it has become - to money,
lobbyists, and special interests."
"From an institution dominated by 20 or so powerful leaders, Congress has
evolved into a collection of 535 independent political entrepreneurs who run
the system with their individual interests uppermost - i.e., to get
re-elected." Once, members of Congress met behind closed doors for
"mark-ups" of legislation. There, deals were made. Today's openness means
that lobbyists literally monitor the members during this process and if they
hear something they don't like, they reach for their cell phones and within
minutes, a special interest has swamped the member's office with calls and
faxes.
In his book, "Demosclerosis," journalist Jonathan Rauch draws on the
insights of economist Mancur Olson to argue (and Zakaria quotes him in his
book), "that the rise of interest groups has made American government
utterly dysfunctional. Washington is unable to trim back - let alone
eliminate - virtually any government program, no matter how obsolete."
That will not change, no matter which party has the majority after the
election, unless both parties in Congress decide to repair it. Both
Republicans and Democrats helped break the system and voters, as well as
non-voters, let them get away with it. We wanted government goodies. They
wanted to get re-elected. Lobbyists wanted money. It was an unholy and
unhealthy alliance.
Government is like Humpty Dumpty. Unless there is real reform, all the
Democratic horses, just like all the Republican horses, won't be able to put
government back together again.