We pay our senators and representative more than 94 million dollars yearly. Special interests, individuals, and businesses probably pay them that much or more as well. The taxpayers also pay nearly 57 million dollars to the 611 retired members of congress.
Are we getting our money’s worth?
The answer is: No.
Congress has become good at doing one thing: nothing. In fact, they are great at it. The most recent mass shooting incident at a Florida school points to one area where we, the people, have asked our law-makers to fix a problem. We asked after each of the 307 mass shooting incidents in 2017. We asked after Las Vegas, we asked after Orlando, after Newtown, and now we are asking again.
Will anything happen? If history prevails, probably not.
There will be a lot of speeches in Congress. Polarized speeches. Speeches decrying we will lose our constitutional rights. But, in the end, congress will point their fingers at the “other side” – blaming them for inaction and stalemate. And we wait for the next incident.
Am I asking for more gun control laws? Not necessarily. What I am asking for is for our lawmakers to study, investigate, and become experts at all aspects of these incidents. Then, without regard to political or special interest pressures, devise a plan that will alter the path we are walking.
It’s not just mass shootings and congressional stagnation.
Consider the “dreamers.” The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) allowed children who were brought into the United States to remain here. Most of them have never lived anywhere else, have families here, speak English, and may have jobs. Most Americans think they should be allowed to stay, maybe in a special status, or maybe as citizens. We have asked congress for a resolution. Nope. Our senators recently stopped their debates on this subject. It was too hard, too much baggage. No give and take. Stubbornness on both sides. Another stalemate. And we still pay each of our lawmakers $174,000 every year to do nothing.
Then there’s the marijuana situation. Thirty states and the District of Columbia have laws allowing marijuana in some form, yet it is still illegal at the federal level. Don’t you think our lawmakers could easily “fix” this?
If they tried, probably. But they haven’t.
We all need to contact our lawmakers. Perhaps the simple message should be as stated by Faith Salie of CBS News: “For Alaina Petty, do something. For Nicholas Dworet, do something. For Aaron Feis, do something. For Alyssa Alhadeff, do something. For Martin Duque, do something. For Scott Beigel, do something, For Jamie Guttenberg, do something. For Christopher Hixon, do something. For Luke Hoyer, do something. For Cara Loughran, do something. For Gina Montalto, do something. For Joaquin Oliver, do something. For Meadow Pollack, do something. For Helena Ramsay, do something. For Alex Schachter, do something, For Carmen Schentrup, do something. For Peter Wang, do something.”