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  • From: "Lynda" <lurine AT softcom.net>
  • To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] THE POWER OF THE MAJORITY
  • Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2004 08:21:48 -0700

> http://www.ncpa.org/edo/bb/2004/20041011bb.htm
>
> Bruce Bartlett Column: The Power Of The Majority
>
> Monday, October 11, 2004
> by Bruce Bartlett
>
> When Republicans took control of Congress in 1994, it was widely hailed
> as a revolution. Now, 10 years later, it is looking more and more like a
> coup d'etat that only changed the leadership while leaving everything
> else unchanged. In particular, the problem of an "Imperial Congress"
> seems little different today than it did under Democratic control.
>
> It is almost forgotten now how powerfully concerns about an Imperial
> Congress aided the Republican takeover. Democrats had controlled
> Congress more or less continuously since 1932. This bred arrogance and a
> casual disregard for the rights of the Republican minority. Even many
> liberals like Joseph Califano worried that Congress had gotten too big
> for its britches, usurping power that rightfully belonged to the
> president.
>
> Republicans often cited the Founding Fathers to argue that continuous
> one-party control of Congress was antidemocratic. They quoted Alexander
> Hamilton in
> <http://www.foundingfathers.info/federalistpapers/fed71.htm> Federalist
> No. 71: "The representatives of the people.seem sometimes to fancy that
> they are the people themselves, and betray strong symptoms of impatience
> and disgust at the least sign of opposition from any other quarter; as
> if the exercise of its rights, by either the executive or judiciary,
> were a breach of their privilege and an outrage to their dignity."
>
> The Heritage Foundation did much of the heavy lifting in raising
> concerns about Democratic imperiousness in Congress. It published "The
> Imperial Congress" in 1988, a book that cited chapter and verse on the
> myriad of ways in which one-party domination undermined executive
> authority, bloated the budget with special interest provisions, crippled
> national security, and threatened our very system of government.
>
> Republicans in Congress also published scholarly assessments of the
> Democrats' abuses of power. In July 1994, the House Republican
> leadership issued a study entitled, "It's Long Enough: The Decline of
> Popular Government Under Forty Years of Single Party Control of the
> House of Representatives." It detailed all the methods used by Democrats
> to maintain their power from gerrymandering congressional districts to
> manipulation of House rules to prevent Republican amendments, from
> unbalanced committee ratios to the virtual extortion of campaign
> contributions from the business community.
>
> Not surprisingly, Republicans made congressional reforms a key element
> of their " <http://www.house.gov/house/Contract/CONTRACT.html> Contract
> With America" in 1994. These included making Congress obey laws that
> applied to everyone else, but which it had exempted itself from; having
> an independent auditor examine the Congress's own books; reducing the
> number of committees and cutting their staffs; and imposing term limits
> on committee chairmen, among other things.
>
> It's hard to say how much impact these efforts had in shifting public
> opinion. But I think they helped convince more than a few opinion makers
> in Washington, including some liberals, that maybe it wouldn't be a bad
> idea to let the Democrats spend some time in the political wilderness.
> It would help cleanse the system, get rid of dead wood, and force the
> adoption of widely supported reforms. However, it is doubtful that any
> of them thought that the Republicans would be able to maintain control
> for more than a few years.
>
> At first, I think Republicans sincerely wanted to change all the things
> they chaffed under while in the minority, such as closed rules that
> prevented congressmen from offering amendments from the floor. But as
> time went by, they have become more and more like the Democrats they
> deposed, using the power of the majority to crush the minority.
>
> An Oct. 3 report in the
> <http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/10/03/back_room_dealing
> _a_capitol_trend> Boston Globe recounts many of the ways in which the
> old Imperial Congress is back with a vengeance. It explains how bills
> are brought to the floor with no hearings or mark-ups by the committees
> of jurisdiction, no committee reports, and in many cases without even a
> printed bill that members can study. It tells how the House Rules
> Committee routinely rewrites bills, bottles up those opposed by the
> leadership even when they have majority support in the House, and often
> meets in secret in the dead of night to prevent Democrats from knowing
> what is going on.
>
> The Globe says that Democrats are often prevented from attending
> conference committees, where differences between House and Senate bills
> are resolved. And contrary to standard procedures, Republicans routinely
> add costly pork barrel projects that did not exist in either the House
> or Senate versions of the legislation.
>
> Finally, the Globe tells how Republicans stifle debate by severely
> limiting the amount of time a bill can be on the floor. The 2001 tax
> bill, for example, had only 3 hours for debate, and the controversial
> USA Patriot Act was passed in a single day.
>
> Yet, as budget expert Stan Collender notes, the Republican leadership
> hasn't fulfilled its primary responsibility of passing a budget,
> enacting appropriations bills, or raising the debt limit.
>
> It looks more and more like the Republicans have become the Democrats
> they overthrew in 1994.
>
> Bruce Bartlett is a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy
> Analysis.
>
> For more on Abuse of Power <http://www.ncpa.org/pd/govern/govern1.html>
> http://www.ncpa.org/pd/govern/govern1.html






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