Thanks for your kind words. If not every member of Congress... perhaps at least Tommy Tuberville... who couldn't name the three branches of government... including the one in which he was presently serving (eye roll.) :D
“Congress” has stopped being the Big Dog In The Yard, and has become a place where rich men and women go to have cozy, comfy offices, collegial chats, plenty of perks, a nearby airport with special parking, and the rapt attention of the real rulers of the country, the Monied Class.
I am not that concerned about mixing up framers with founders. Kind of a distinction without a difference - most were wealthy aristocrats.
The sin exposed by this well written piece is the abdication of responsibility by the legislative branch.
Political parties did great damage to how checks & balances function. Does anyone actually believe a president will ever be convicted after being impeached? When was the last real debate over a legislation to promote the general welfare that was not just a partisan back & forth?
Alexander Hamilton’s view of the presidency seems to have won the day.
I sure hope Congress reads you. (And thanks for the Founders/Framers tutorial. I plead guilty and I'm old enough that my middle school curriculum included "civics." Oops)
I’m not big on pundits and political advisors right now. I think they royally screwed the pooch last time with their so-called expertise. I don’t know Cheri personally—just by reputation. She was a PR wonk at the RNC when I worked on the Dole campaign and later for W. We never crossed paths directly, but what I’ve seen of her on TV hasn’t exactly been inspiring.
So, I slogged through the video…
And I have to say, I don’t get the obsession with Pete. The guy was a mediocre cabinet official, bungled several major issues, and doesn’t exactly exude leadership. But somehow, Democrats get a thrill because he’s gay, he goes on Fox News, and he can throw out a few zingers? That’s the bar now? I get that the party is in dire straits, but come on. The same goes for AOC—what’s so exceptional? Compared to someone like Harris (whom I wasn’t a fan of at first but have come to respect), Pete and AOC feel… underwhelming.
So, the plan is what? Uncle Petey is going to teach Congress how to act like adults? That’ll go over well. And then what—become their official mouthpiece?
Now, I’ll give you this: Hakeem Jeffries… good grief. His speechwriter needs a serious wake-up call. As a former speechwriter myself, I can say with confidence—those speeches are bad. He has no clue how to command a stage. But if the goal is to have someone out there rallying the troops, surely there are better options than Pete.
Like, say… Andy Beshear. Shapiro. Pritzker. Walz.
Why? Because these guys hold power in states on the front lines, and they can speak to the real, tangible impact of federal dysfunction. They are governors in relatively safe seats, and unlike Pete, they can mobilize their states against congressional dysfunction. And those states all MATTER in the mid-terms and the next election. That’s what’s needed here—not some glorified campaign stunt for 2028. I'm not sure what Cheri is up to, but that's what it smells like (then again, I'm a jaded kind of guy.)
Look at what happened when Tim Walz went on TV in Minneapolis and laid it all out: cops weren’t getting paid, hospitals were about to shut down, Medicare and Medicaid were frozen, the VA was in crisis, statewide offices were going dark. That scared the hell out of Congress. That speech didn’t just play in Minnesota—it was broadcast nationwide. And that’s what actually moves the needle.
What we need right now isn’t another Beltway darling lobbing one-liners on cable news. We need Labor Democrats out front—someone who looks like Gavin Newsom but sounds like Jimmy Hoffa. I want someone out there yelling "Who is that friend of laybohr!" Because I'm telling people, we're getting to that point where those messages of the 1930s are going to start sounding relevant again.
Because when billionaires are taking a crowbar to the government, eggs are $13 a dozen, and electric bills in Alabama are jumping from $250 to $900 in a single month, we don’t need a guy who can clap back at Fox News. We need a leader who can throw a punch for the people, and if necessary, might need to throw a punch for real on the strike lines. We're in a street fight, and Congress is futzing around looking for its keys.
But hey, that’s just my take. I’m not a political advisor anymore.
So congress didn't really abdicate. The voters did that for them and they just ran with it. Voters, out of ignorance...or maybe spite...elect parties with the slimmest majorities ever and they are getting slimmer all the time. How are they supposed to govern with only a one or two vote majority in the senate? Originally average voters only voted for house members. Average voters didn't vote directly for the senate or president. The thought was to empower white slave owners but the reason was that the average voter was too stupid to make a well reasoned decision. I beginning to wonder if maybe they were correct. I'm not saying people shouldn't get to vote but maybe a basic civics test first or something. smh
It is, it was, just a fucking idea. That is all those fucking—plural—ideas were. We are all flawed individuals who someday may fix the shit that we did.
That is the one and only truth of those times. I fucked up, but maybe our children will not.
If you don’t fucking see that we all are fucking doomed.
Not bad, but there's a big lie in your article I think.
First, it seems you're under the impression that humans CAN make logical decisions. LOL. ;-) In fact they make emotional decisions. Read Chris Voss's best selling book: Never Split the Difference. He was the top FBI hostage negotiator. I think he knows a little something that we all need to learn about how humans actually work in their head.
We have a monarch because the felon has been able to make better emotional arguments than congress members. Why? First I think its because he has this huge bullhorn that was created over the last 40 years by media consolidation. I don't much hear from congress, but I see plenty of live media from the chief thief. Also he had no mother growing up, and virtually no father. He makes emotional arguments well because he had to learn how to fight for himself, AND here's the kicker: emotional arguments (even if they be lies) work better than logic to change other people's behaviors to suit him. (We're back to Voss.)
There's another problem I think with human nature here. Political parties and football fans act the same: they line up for and against like two poles of a magnet, rather than take more nuanced positions. It's human nature. We are intellectually lazy. All animals are lazy. We like things to be simple and the same day after day.
So I don't think this is a problem with congress. It's a problem with humans in general. The question then becomes: how is the best way to collectively work with human nature as it is, because we're not changing it, in other words it's wired really deep inside how our brain works.
On that front, I think, sole rule is less productive than multi-rule, and therefore has a decided advantage. For example, the US can out run Putin's productivity just because of how people there and here are incentivized differently. We need to remember that when we think about oligarchy vs widespread small business. Make America a sloth and now dictators like Putin can finally compete with us.
I doubt you'll cry here from what I have to say. Like the felon I need to use passion better. My goal and yours I hope is to make my reader's cry, or at least cry out.
Humans with our unique adaptations (big brain and opposing thumb) is a genetic biological experiment, just like all other genetic strains over the eons. And we are statistically far, far more likely to go extinct than to live long as a species. Unless we can adapt to the new world we live in with our old brain we are doomed. Please read New World New Mind - Ehrlich/Ornstein.
So the big lie in your article is that we can fix this, ever, somehow without total collapse and mass death of our species. ... and for that matter taking down most of other species with us, like for example all large mammals with sudden global warming destroying their worlds too. The politics right now is a minor problem relative to global warming, but clearly they are linked at the hip.
I'll save a tissue for you. I'm already numb from crying about it. I've spent 40 years of my life trying to stop what is coming from burning yesterday's sunlight with it's huge release of CO2. All I can do is drag my feet now, as I am dragged into this black hell hole of global heating. At great expense our house and cars are now all solar run if that matters. I don't have children to save them from entering the hell ahead. The big lie is bigger than most know. And logic won't fix it because our brains don't make logical decisions.
I understand the passion behind the argument, and the substance of the argument itself, but not how congress will be able to claw back the power it gave away--at least not quickly enough to prevent permanent (irreparable?) damage from being done to our democracy by the current demolition crew that has taken over the executive. For one, there's the fact that the Republican party has transferred its loyalty away from the constitution (including article 1) to the person of our mad king president. And then there's public opinion, which appears to remain (for the time being) firmly behind the all-powerful appearing president and, on the Republican side, prepared to punish any congressional representative that betrays this new definition of loyalty. In that sense, the survival of our constitutional democracy, which you argue must include a congress that reasserts its first among equals status, depends on the existence of a democratic Republican party and a critical mass of Americans willing to support it. How do you square the circle? For my part, apart from rising angst about what I see within and outside our borders, I'm relieved I myself don't have to defend what's happening in the United States to skeptical overseas audiences, as I used to have to do as a foreign service officer. At the same time, I feel for my colleagues still in the diplomatic trenches. I can only imagine the quality of the talking points. Keep up the good work.
I have no idea. Ezra's a pretty smart guy on his own. :D If I did influence him, it would have undoubtedly been only the smallest of a nudge. What did he publish? I didn't see it.
I have shared this idea pretty widely with politicos privately... so, yeah, maybe it's percolating. That's kinda my role now. Since I'm not tied to the "Beltway Ether" anymore, I'm able to think a bit more clearly about things than most. But this is a position I've held for a very long time. Lately, I seem to be shouting at the wall on a bunch of topics - this is just one of them. This is especially true shouting at members of Congress... in part because I'm terrified about what is going to happen to some of my friends and colleagues, and federal worker friends of mine, as DOGE and these cabinet officials (and nominees) are ripping through the government like fire through a wheatfield and Congress stands there dumbstruck.
Maddening.
I may ultimately write the article called "The three times we really F'ed up," or something to that effect. LOL! My friends and colleagues have heard that story more times than they'd like to count. The three times are: accepting Marbury v. Madison, the 16th Amendment being ratified, and the 17th Amendment being ratified. The reasons why these times I can trace from when they happened, directly to now and how they empowered a guy like Trump in this moment. These are esoteric arguments that only policy wonks get excited about. Although I think the Marbury issue is becoming more relevant... especially as we suffer under what I'm probably going to start calling "The Tyranny of the Six" - namely, the six imbeciles of idiocy... Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, & Barrett.
In any event Erza is a smart guy... and a solid commentator. For most of my career, he was on the other side of the aisle from where I stood... but he's a solid player in politics. I thought his book "Why We're Polarized" was decent... could have been a bit better... but I also know you never know what winds up on the floor in editing either... and there's always that balance between a scholarly tome and what you can get sold off the bookshelf. The one thing I did read in that book that I thought was novel was the idea of the 1964 Civil Rights Act being the watershed moment for polarization... which was something I hadn't considered, but when I read it, I was like "yeah ok, sure. I can see that now."
That doesn't happen to me all that much. So when it does, golf clap. Bravo. I thought that idea was pretty clever and insightful. I mean you wouldn't think giving people equality would light a fuse that would wind up with a half of America going bananas when a black guy winds up President to the point they'd rather elect a felon versus the sitting Vice President, but here we are. Truly bonkers.
All of this is to say, I have a lot of respect for the guy, which isn't something I say about all Democrat operatives and commentators. (Or any commentators as of late, for that matter.)
Hmmm.... yeah, his idea is more or less the same as mine. Ezra sees the Constitution more or less the same way I do... the compact of states argument, with legislators as the representatives of the States (in the Senate), and the people (in the House), and thus the Federal Polity is the aggregation of that power in Article I.
His argument is a bit more nuanced than what I wrote; however, since he talks about partisanship, which I don't introduce (which is fine; he's a political operative, and I'm largely leaving that out in my writing.)
We largely agree on the basic framework, however... again, Ezra is a smart guy. Obviously, we more or less see it as the same, and we're both pretty exasperated as to why Congress has its head up its ass. lol. :) I am glad that Congress is hearing it from multiple actors... I think that members of Congress have to hear it over and over. That's why I continue to encourage everyone to just pound away on their member of Congress... even if they live in a state where they think (regardless of party) that the member won't listen.
True story... back in the day when I worked for the Government... I had to take Jim Moran... who was MY Congressman at the time... out on a CODEL when I worked for W. That guy was a complete asshole. I mean ... what a jerk. Racist clown too. He stood up in a church and basically blamed the war (after 9/11) on "the Jews." (Yeah what a peach this guy was.) He was rude, obnoxious, and a complete dick the entire trip. And he was a dick to me, because you know, I was a representative of the President, and a Republican, and so somehow that was enough to earn the guy's approbation and being a complete dick to me.
Now, at the end of the trip, I said to him, "Congressman, I've been nothing but pleasant this trip. And you've been nothing but curt, rude, and dismissive. Perhaps you think you have every right to be. But you should know two things: one, I am a constituent who lives in your district in Virginia; two, you have an obligation to represent all of the constituents in your district, not just the ones whom you agree with or whom voted for you."
I never got an apology or anything from him... I did get one, however, from the Majority Leader's office for that trip. LOL! Thankfully, I never had to work with Congressman Moran ever again... unfortunately that guy stayed in Congress another five terms (almost ten years) after that happened.
The guy was a dick. But you can't just fold because the guy doesn't agree with you.
In the end, they have to get re-elected every two years. They can raise all the money in the world they want... money isn't votes. In the end, they have to get votes. So... pound away on them. Tell them you're upset. Tell them you want change. Tell them you're pissed about DOGE. Tell them you're pissed they sit there all day with their thumb up their asses.
God knows I do. Yeah, my voice might lite a tiny fuse because of who I am... and who I was... and who I can reach? But trust me... when thousands of you also echo in a chorus that you're unhappy... you carry much more weight and make them considerably more afraid than anything me... or Ezra... or any other politco does...
In the end... they're terrified of losing their jobs. Not of the Orange Orangutan... not of anything else... they love that desk... they love their gig... they love the pin...
They don't want anyone taking it away from them...
A supeb piece. About time people realize that The United States dates from 1789, when the Constitution was ratified, not from 1776. Is history no longer taught in schools? In the 1950s, even in Memphis public schools, U.S. history was required. Not suggested or "offered", but required.
These are great pieces, William. Thank you for composing and sharing.
You're kind to say so.
Please send to all members on congress!!
Thanks for your kind words. If not every member of Congress... perhaps at least Tommy Tuberville... who couldn't name the three branches of government... including the one in which he was presently serving (eye roll.) :D
😂😂😂 Tommmy? https://youtu.be/1shSAVUMwDY?si=C0D8YuuZOi_b76xm
“Congress” has stopped being the Big Dog In The Yard, and has become a place where rich men and women go to have cozy, comfy offices, collegial chats, plenty of perks, a nearby airport with special parking, and the rapt attention of the real rulers of the country, the Monied Class.
And they're kowtowing to the orange king under threat of losing their coveted positions.
I am not that concerned about mixing up framers with founders. Kind of a distinction without a difference - most were wealthy aristocrats.
The sin exposed by this well written piece is the abdication of responsibility by the legislative branch.
Political parties did great damage to how checks & balances function. Does anyone actually believe a president will ever be convicted after being impeached? When was the last real debate over a legislation to promote the general welfare that was not just a partisan back & forth?
Alexander Hamilton’s view of the presidency seems to have won the day.
I sure hope Congress reads you. (And thanks for the Founders/Framers tutorial. I plead guilty and I'm old enough that my middle school curriculum included "civics." Oops)
Re ACTING, this youtube gives me hope. Curious what you think. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnXQg36hL1o&t=825s
Ugh… Cheri Jacobus. Eye roll.
I’m not big on pundits and political advisors right now. I think they royally screwed the pooch last time with their so-called expertise. I don’t know Cheri personally—just by reputation. She was a PR wonk at the RNC when I worked on the Dole campaign and later for W. We never crossed paths directly, but what I’ve seen of her on TV hasn’t exactly been inspiring.
So, I slogged through the video…
And I have to say, I don’t get the obsession with Pete. The guy was a mediocre cabinet official, bungled several major issues, and doesn’t exactly exude leadership. But somehow, Democrats get a thrill because he’s gay, he goes on Fox News, and he can throw out a few zingers? That’s the bar now? I get that the party is in dire straits, but come on. The same goes for AOC—what’s so exceptional? Compared to someone like Harris (whom I wasn’t a fan of at first but have come to respect), Pete and AOC feel… underwhelming.
So, the plan is what? Uncle Petey is going to teach Congress how to act like adults? That’ll go over well. And then what—become their official mouthpiece?
Now, I’ll give you this: Hakeem Jeffries… good grief. His speechwriter needs a serious wake-up call. As a former speechwriter myself, I can say with confidence—those speeches are bad. He has no clue how to command a stage. But if the goal is to have someone out there rallying the troops, surely there are better options than Pete.
Like, say… Andy Beshear. Shapiro. Pritzker. Walz.
Why? Because these guys hold power in states on the front lines, and they can speak to the real, tangible impact of federal dysfunction. They are governors in relatively safe seats, and unlike Pete, they can mobilize their states against congressional dysfunction. And those states all MATTER in the mid-terms and the next election. That’s what’s needed here—not some glorified campaign stunt for 2028. I'm not sure what Cheri is up to, but that's what it smells like (then again, I'm a jaded kind of guy.)
Look at what happened when Tim Walz went on TV in Minneapolis and laid it all out: cops weren’t getting paid, hospitals were about to shut down, Medicare and Medicaid were frozen, the VA was in crisis, statewide offices were going dark. That scared the hell out of Congress. That speech didn’t just play in Minnesota—it was broadcast nationwide. And that’s what actually moves the needle.
What we need right now isn’t another Beltway darling lobbing one-liners on cable news. We need Labor Democrats out front—someone who looks like Gavin Newsom but sounds like Jimmy Hoffa. I want someone out there yelling "Who is that friend of laybohr!" Because I'm telling people, we're getting to that point where those messages of the 1930s are going to start sounding relevant again.
Because when billionaires are taking a crowbar to the government, eggs are $13 a dozen, and electric bills in Alabama are jumping from $250 to $900 in a single month, we don’t need a guy who can clap back at Fox News. We need a leader who can throw a punch for the people, and if necessary, might need to throw a punch for real on the strike lines. We're in a street fight, and Congress is futzing around looking for its keys.
But hey, that’s just my take. I’m not a political advisor anymore.
So congress didn't really abdicate. The voters did that for them and they just ran with it. Voters, out of ignorance...or maybe spite...elect parties with the slimmest majorities ever and they are getting slimmer all the time. How are they supposed to govern with only a one or two vote majority in the senate? Originally average voters only voted for house members. Average voters didn't vote directly for the senate or president. The thought was to empower white slave owners but the reason was that the average voter was too stupid to make a well reasoned decision. I beginning to wonder if maybe they were correct. I'm not saying people shouldn't get to vote but maybe a basic civics test first or something. smh
It is, it was, just a fucking idea. That is all those fucking—plural—ideas were. We are all flawed individuals who someday may fix the shit that we did.
That is the one and only truth of those times. I fucked up, but maybe our children will not.
If you don’t fucking see that we all are fucking doomed.
Not bad, but there's a big lie in your article I think.
First, it seems you're under the impression that humans CAN make logical decisions. LOL. ;-) In fact they make emotional decisions. Read Chris Voss's best selling book: Never Split the Difference. He was the top FBI hostage negotiator. I think he knows a little something that we all need to learn about how humans actually work in their head.
We have a monarch because the felon has been able to make better emotional arguments than congress members. Why? First I think its because he has this huge bullhorn that was created over the last 40 years by media consolidation. I don't much hear from congress, but I see plenty of live media from the chief thief. Also he had no mother growing up, and virtually no father. He makes emotional arguments well because he had to learn how to fight for himself, AND here's the kicker: emotional arguments (even if they be lies) work better than logic to change other people's behaviors to suit him. (We're back to Voss.)
There's another problem I think with human nature here. Political parties and football fans act the same: they line up for and against like two poles of a magnet, rather than take more nuanced positions. It's human nature. We are intellectually lazy. All animals are lazy. We like things to be simple and the same day after day.
So I don't think this is a problem with congress. It's a problem with humans in general. The question then becomes: how is the best way to collectively work with human nature as it is, because we're not changing it, in other words it's wired really deep inside how our brain works.
On that front, I think, sole rule is less productive than multi-rule, and therefore has a decided advantage. For example, the US can out run Putin's productivity just because of how people there and here are incentivized differently. We need to remember that when we think about oligarchy vs widespread small business. Make America a sloth and now dictators like Putin can finally compete with us.
I doubt you'll cry here from what I have to say. Like the felon I need to use passion better. My goal and yours I hope is to make my reader's cry, or at least cry out.
Humans with our unique adaptations (big brain and opposing thumb) is a genetic biological experiment, just like all other genetic strains over the eons. And we are statistically far, far more likely to go extinct than to live long as a species. Unless we can adapt to the new world we live in with our old brain we are doomed. Please read New World New Mind - Ehrlich/Ornstein.
So the big lie in your article is that we can fix this, ever, somehow without total collapse and mass death of our species. ... and for that matter taking down most of other species with us, like for example all large mammals with sudden global warming destroying their worlds too. The politics right now is a minor problem relative to global warming, but clearly they are linked at the hip.
I'll save a tissue for you. I'm already numb from crying about it. I've spent 40 years of my life trying to stop what is coming from burning yesterday's sunlight with it's huge release of CO2. All I can do is drag my feet now, as I am dragged into this black hell hole of global heating. At great expense our house and cars are now all solar run if that matters. I don't have children to save them from entering the hell ahead. The big lie is bigger than most know. And logic won't fix it because our brains don't make logical decisions.
I understand the passion behind the argument, and the substance of the argument itself, but not how congress will be able to claw back the power it gave away--at least not quickly enough to prevent permanent (irreparable?) damage from being done to our democracy by the current demolition crew that has taken over the executive. For one, there's the fact that the Republican party has transferred its loyalty away from the constitution (including article 1) to the person of our mad king president. And then there's public opinion, which appears to remain (for the time being) firmly behind the all-powerful appearing president and, on the Republican side, prepared to punish any congressional representative that betrays this new definition of loyalty. In that sense, the survival of our constitutional democracy, which you argue must include a congress that reasserts its first among equals status, depends on the existence of a democratic Republican party and a critical mass of Americans willing to support it. How do you square the circle? For my part, apart from rising angst about what I see within and outside our borders, I'm relieved I myself don't have to defend what's happening in the United States to skeptical overseas audiences, as I used to have to do as a foreign service officer. At the same time, I feel for my colleagues still in the diplomatic trenches. I can only imagine the quality of the talking points. Keep up the good work.
“Founding Fathers” includes the Framers. It’s like squares and rectangles: superclass/subclass, not two different things https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/founding-father
excellent essay. happy president's day
This is exactly what Ezra Klein just talked about in his latest podcast episode. I’m wondering if he was inspired by your article!
I have no idea. Ezra's a pretty smart guy on his own. :D If I did influence him, it would have undoubtedly been only the smallest of a nudge. What did he publish? I didn't see it.
I have shared this idea pretty widely with politicos privately... so, yeah, maybe it's percolating. That's kinda my role now. Since I'm not tied to the "Beltway Ether" anymore, I'm able to think a bit more clearly about things than most. But this is a position I've held for a very long time. Lately, I seem to be shouting at the wall on a bunch of topics - this is just one of them. This is especially true shouting at members of Congress... in part because I'm terrified about what is going to happen to some of my friends and colleagues, and federal worker friends of mine, as DOGE and these cabinet officials (and nominees) are ripping through the government like fire through a wheatfield and Congress stands there dumbstruck.
Maddening.
I may ultimately write the article called "The three times we really F'ed up," or something to that effect. LOL! My friends and colleagues have heard that story more times than they'd like to count. The three times are: accepting Marbury v. Madison, the 16th Amendment being ratified, and the 17th Amendment being ratified. The reasons why these times I can trace from when they happened, directly to now and how they empowered a guy like Trump in this moment. These are esoteric arguments that only policy wonks get excited about. Although I think the Marbury issue is becoming more relevant... especially as we suffer under what I'm probably going to start calling "The Tyranny of the Six" - namely, the six imbeciles of idiocy... Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, & Barrett.
In any event Erza is a smart guy... and a solid commentator. For most of my career, he was on the other side of the aisle from where I stood... but he's a solid player in politics. I thought his book "Why We're Polarized" was decent... could have been a bit better... but I also know you never know what winds up on the floor in editing either... and there's always that balance between a scholarly tome and what you can get sold off the bookshelf. The one thing I did read in that book that I thought was novel was the idea of the 1964 Civil Rights Act being the watershed moment for polarization... which was something I hadn't considered, but when I read it, I was like "yeah ok, sure. I can see that now."
That doesn't happen to me all that much. So when it does, golf clap. Bravo. I thought that idea was pretty clever and insightful. I mean you wouldn't think giving people equality would light a fuse that would wind up with a half of America going bananas when a black guy winds up President to the point they'd rather elect a felon versus the sitting Vice President, but here we are. Truly bonkers.
All of this is to say, I have a lot of respect for the guy, which isn't something I say about all Democrat operatives and commentators. (Or any commentators as of late, for that matter.)
I love your detailed and thorough takes, including this reply!
Here’s the episode I was talking about: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2SIbQZM4Aulf3hIOmgzS0s?si=KY5-l6y6Sk6EC2SitABOzQ
Awesome. I'll listen now... :) Thx.
Hmmm.... yeah, his idea is more or less the same as mine. Ezra sees the Constitution more or less the same way I do... the compact of states argument, with legislators as the representatives of the States (in the Senate), and the people (in the House), and thus the Federal Polity is the aggregation of that power in Article I.
His argument is a bit more nuanced than what I wrote; however, since he talks about partisanship, which I don't introduce (which is fine; he's a political operative, and I'm largely leaving that out in my writing.)
We largely agree on the basic framework, however... again, Ezra is a smart guy. Obviously, we more or less see it as the same, and we're both pretty exasperated as to why Congress has its head up its ass. lol. :) I am glad that Congress is hearing it from multiple actors... I think that members of Congress have to hear it over and over. That's why I continue to encourage everyone to just pound away on their member of Congress... even if they live in a state where they think (regardless of party) that the member won't listen.
True story... back in the day when I worked for the Government... I had to take Jim Moran... who was MY Congressman at the time... out on a CODEL when I worked for W. That guy was a complete asshole. I mean ... what a jerk. Racist clown too. He stood up in a church and basically blamed the war (after 9/11) on "the Jews." (Yeah what a peach this guy was.) He was rude, obnoxious, and a complete dick the entire trip. And he was a dick to me, because you know, I was a representative of the President, and a Republican, and so somehow that was enough to earn the guy's approbation and being a complete dick to me.
Now, at the end of the trip, I said to him, "Congressman, I've been nothing but pleasant this trip. And you've been nothing but curt, rude, and dismissive. Perhaps you think you have every right to be. But you should know two things: one, I am a constituent who lives in your district in Virginia; two, you have an obligation to represent all of the constituents in your district, not just the ones whom you agree with or whom voted for you."
I never got an apology or anything from him... I did get one, however, from the Majority Leader's office for that trip. LOL! Thankfully, I never had to work with Congressman Moran ever again... unfortunately that guy stayed in Congress another five terms (almost ten years) after that happened.
The guy was a dick. But you can't just fold because the guy doesn't agree with you.
In the end, they have to get re-elected every two years. They can raise all the money in the world they want... money isn't votes. In the end, they have to get votes. So... pound away on them. Tell them you're upset. Tell them you want change. Tell them you're pissed about DOGE. Tell them you're pissed they sit there all day with their thumb up their asses.
God knows I do. Yeah, my voice might lite a tiny fuse because of who I am... and who I was... and who I can reach? But trust me... when thousands of you also echo in a chorus that you're unhappy... you carry much more weight and make them considerably more afraid than anything me... or Ezra... or any other politco does...
In the end... they're terrified of losing their jobs. Not of the Orange Orangutan... not of anything else... they love that desk... they love their gig... they love the pin...
They don't want anyone taking it away from them...
Make them fear it... and they'll listen. :)
A supeb piece. About time people realize that The United States dates from 1789, when the Constitution was ratified, not from 1776. Is history no longer taught in schools? In the 1950s, even in Memphis public schools, U.S. history was required. Not suggested or "offered", but required.