Approval of Congress?

By now, everyone has heard or read that the approval rating for Congress is below that of the President. While it is not surprising to me that this is the case, there are those that do not understand how this Democrat-controlled body has fallen so far from the promises that they touted during the last election cycle.

One of the first things that come to mind (and the biggest) is the immigration reform fubar. I don’t think that anyone was happy with the obvious closed-door backroom deals that were made to even bring this miserable piece of legislation to the floor of the Senate. This displeasure was made known to the Senators by the numerous phone calls and emails made by the concerned citizens of this country. If the Senators thought that they were doing the will of the people, this was certainly the loudest wake-up call that they have received in a long, long time that they were way off the reservation.

Next on my list is that the Democrats ran on the platform of reforming the Republican’s “Culture of Corruption” in which they were to clean Congress of misdeeds, earmarks, and wasteful spending. Never mind that William Jefferson (D-La) was caught with over $90,000 of FBI marked money in his freezer and was later indicted. Ignore the dust-up made by John Murtha over a challenge by Mike Rogers on Murtha’s blatant attempt at earmarking funds for a pet project. And let’s not mention all the deals that were made just to bring the aforementioned Immigration Reform Bill to the Senate floor. These are just a few of the many dealings along this line that this Congress has shown that it’s “business as usual” in the Capitol instead of the reforms that the Democratic leadership promised.

Then there are the incessant investigations into this, that, and the other. The political prosecution of Scooter Libby, investigation into the Attorney General’s office, NSA wiretap investigation, the detention of terrorists in Guantanamo Bay, the calls to investigate and impeach the President are but a few of the antics that this Congress is busying themselves with instead of the more important issues facing this country. I’m now waiting for a Congressional investigation into steroid use in professional wrestling a la baseball. Need I say that the country is sick and tired of investigation upon investigation over nothing and non-issues?

Then there is the Iraq War and the War on Terrorism. This Congress called for the President to change strategies, and he eventually did - and then they still complained even with the new strategy appearing to be working. Congress has called for a withdrawal of troops but lack the intestinal fortitude to withdraw funding for this conflict. And the Congress is trying their best to micro-manage the President and the military, even though it is not within their Constitutional authority to do so. Along with this is a shortsighted view of the big picture – i.e., the security of this country, and it is no wonder I feel more insecure knowing that these bozos are running the show.

Last are the obvious power politics. How many non-binding resolutions on the same subject can be voted on? Who cares that it involves a sleepover along with pizza and beverages? The results are the same – nothing significant gets done, no problems are solved, and more problems are the result. The only thing that these clowns are doing is playing power politics to have the next President be elected from the Democratic Party.

Quite frankly, with the antics of the Democrats in charge and the past actions of the Republicans, I’m not really sure if I want either party in the White House. It is a shame that there is not a credible third party out there that enjoys nationwide support. A change is needed in Washington, and I just don’t see it happening with the current political parties that we have to choose from.