Making Sausage

I deplore the state of affairs in Congress. The House of Representatives continues to hold showcase votes to overture the Affordable Care Act. The Senate is unable to confirm Cabinet level positions and judicial nominees due to anonymous holds, public holds by Senators engaging in extortion in return for allowing work to get done, and "filibusters". The 112th Congress passed less legislation that any Congress since they started tracking that number and the 113th Congress is on track to be just as ineffective. 
There is a lot of blame to spread around for why things have reached their present state, to name a few problems:

• Long standing practices used by both parties (that have been used exponentially more in recent years).
• The inability of the Speaker of the House to negotiate on behalf of his Members.
• The idea that any success for the present administration is a loss for Republicans
• The refusal to of the Speaker of the House to bring legislation to a vote unless it is supported by a majority of Republican Representative
• Special interest money

The idea that compromise legislation regarding background checks prior to purchasing firearms, legislation supported by 90% of the public, never got voted on based on its merits disgusts me. Our legislative process requires that a majority of Congressmen approve legislation but because a minority of a minority fears the NRA and other special interest money more than they care about maintaining the oath they swore, the Senate will not vote on that legislation.
We need to change the level of discourse in this country. It is not about Republicans and Democrats. Its about what is best for the nation as a whole. 

I didn't write this to shame those Republican Senators who voted against closure for the background check legislation but former-Representative Giffords wrote an op-ed for the New York Times that does an excellent job of doing just that.