CONGRESS’S QUAGMIRE

PRIMARIES, EXTREMELY NARROW PATHWAY PREVENTS COMPETITION QUAGMIRE (def.) – a difficult, precarious, or entrapping position Merriam-Webster The Primary Pathway OBJECTIVE OF THESE POSTS To increase public conviction that there will not be a problem-solving Congress until electoral methods that shield our two parties are improved to permit fair competition from others than parties X and Y. FOUNDING FATHERS QUOTES ON POLITICAL PARTIES Madison said, “different leaders ambitiously

CAUSES: Non-Proportional Voting, Safe Seats, Others Not Rooted in Electoral Laws NON-PROPORTIONAL VOTING Proportional voting means that the results of an election are as proportional to the desires of the voters in that election as practicable. The information below shows that non-proportional voting can be quite unfair. California just voted to permit further gerrymandering that may create more imbalance (see below). Gerrymandering is one type of electoral law. Of course, si

EVIDENCE: SEE SAW CONGRESS, REGULAR ORDER, FAILURE TO PREVENT AND SOLVE THE BIG PROBLEMS PROBLEM Over the past roughly 10-25 years, our U.S. Congress has evolved into a bipolar quagmire, this becoming increasingly obvious in the past several years. OBJECTIVE Analyze the root causes for the dysfunction of Congress and stimulate corrections. ANALYSIS There is plenty of evidence that Congress has become a constant two-party battle for control. The parties view winning and power

Evidence: CAREERISM, ANIMOSITY & DISCORD, POLARIZATION, BLOCK VOTING Quagmire is defined as “a difficult, precarious, or entrapping position: Predicament” Merriam-Webster AN EXAMPLE OF QUAGMIRE Peterson Foundation debt graph until 2054 showing 7 think tanks. These seven think tanks in 2024 showed in detailed reports how to put America on a responsible and fair fiscal path forward. Thoughtful research has already been done! WHY IS CONGRESS PROCRASTINATING? This series of Subs

WE CITIZENS MUST RECLAIM OUR COUNTRY FIASCO The latest debt ceiling crisis is still unresolved as I write these words. However, I decided to slip in an extra post to discuss lessons made more obvious by this fiasco. The next regular post will be published this Thursday, November 13. This “debt ceiling” crisis should never have happened. A well-run Congress would not have had the debt ceiling machete to attack a problem that should never have occurred. Samples of long-obvious

If not, questions arise - like What, How, Why, Who Gallup – October 2025 We have two all-powerful political parties in contrast with most other respected world democracies. One outcome of an election is that each chamber of Congress is controlled by one or the other of the two parties. Since the parties are so similar in size, the power will be almost evenly divided in each chamber. See the chart below. Due to the nature of two opposing entities striving for power – much like

Previous posts have stated that this Substack series is devoted to two topics. These two topics are closely related and listed below. After about ten posts on the fiscal matter, the focus shifted in mid-August to the second topic, Congress. However, this post is about Debt Ceilings, a fiscal matter, and one very much on everyone’s minds these days. It also happens to fit very well into the Congress’s-activities topic. The unsustainable federal fiscal policies, and Congress’s

How We Arrived at Today's Quandary History (From my book Combative Congress, Your Power! Your Voice! ) This home in New York state depicts our long and proud history. History References Drutman, Lee. The Case for Multiparty Democracy in America , Oxford University Press, 2020. Eckam, Dan. Beyond Two Parties, Why America Needs a Multiparty System and How We Can Have It , 2019 Bullock, Dennis R. The Role of Political Parties in Preventing Congress fro

What are the Motivations - for Parties and Members of Congress? Cattle Chute A Funneling Process, Like the Electoral Methods for Congress Motivations What motivates a member of Congress to work on one topic or another? And what is the motivation to vote yes or no? Members running for reelection have around a 90% probability of retaining their seats, so their voting records don’t sway as many voters as is commonly thought. The winner for every seat is almost guaranteed to be f

Oath of Office: …I will well and faithfully discharge the duties… The previous Post discussed: · Confidence in Congress is 6% A Great Deal , 49% Only Some, and 44% Hardly Any · Party loyalty and its causes · Hostility, driven by Party Power and Careerism · Having only two parties is very much the exception among important countries. They average having 3.9 parties large enough to be effective, over 5%. What voters want and deserve f

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” – Albert Einstein Don’t Let the Sun Set on America Introduction This Substack began in early May and listed the two topics on which it would focus: The unstainable federal fiscal policies, and Congress’s shunning solving our big problems Please use this link to see the fiscal policies posts: https://tommast.substack.com/publish/posts/published The U.S. federal debt is just one of the unso