Whipping the Government Into Shape

ACCORDING TO THE NUMBERS, the American government, which means Congress and the President, passed fewer pieces of legislation in 2013 than in any other year in American history, going way back. That may not be entirely true, but its probably pretty close, and it highlights the fact that President Obama can't get along with the Republicans in the House of Reps, and the fact that our government, and our nation, is seriously divided, as usual. The term "do nothing congress" was invented, most likely, by President Harry Truman in the late nineteen forties. Every American president has at one time or another complained about congress; always the same "do nothing" complaint, which is code for "I can't control them and make them enact my agenda." But maybe our do nothing government aint such a bad thing. It could be argued that that government which governs least governs best, as Locke, Hume, Jefferson et al believed back in the enlightened and revolutionary late eighteenth century. Early twentieth century American comedian Will Rogers once said that the invention of air conditioning was the most harmful event in American hisotry, becuase it permitted Congress to meet year round, including in the stifling heat of an ordinary Washington D.C. summer. No more extended summer weather breaks for government. More time for congress to pass laws, spend money, and make a bigger mess, in languid, air conditioned comfort. Famed frontiersman and congressional character Davy Crockett spent three terms in Congress and never sponsored a single piece of legislation that got passed. Everything he proposed got voted down. For that reason historians have tended to lable him an ineffective politician. True, but it could also be argued that at least Crockett, unlike the rest of them, didn't do any more harm than had alredy been done. Davy was just too honest and too independent to be a consensus builder and political deal maker. He didn't play the game. Ironically, everything Davy stood for was good and honorable, like land rights for frontier folks. He just couldn't get the big money east coast people to turn loose of the land. The problem with our government today is that even though we really don't want it to do too much, we want it to at least pass a federal budget every year, and it can't even do that. If only we had President Harry Truman and Congressman Davy Crodkett to whip 'em all into shape!