For those of you who need it, here is your US government crash course on American Congress. For those of you who don’t need it, feel free to skip this paragraph. Congress is the legislative branch of our government, and it’s a combination of the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Senate is based on the New Jersey Plan way back when, with each state getting equal representation with two senators. The House of Representatives is based on the Virginia Plan, with larger states with larger populations getting more representation in government. Together, they make Congress, which is in charge of keeping the Executive and Judicial branches in check.
Congress doesn’t work the way it should.
The main issue with Congress is the members. As outlined in this Washington Post article, the Congress we just elected in 2016 is 80% white, 80% percent male and 92% Christian. But why? The United States demographic does not parallel these statistics. The people we choose to elect us in government need to be diverse like the people of America are diverse. This means we need more women, more racial minorities and more diversity in terms of religious affiliation and beliefs.
But how do we fix this?
The first thing we need to change within Congress is the election period. Unlike the presidency, Congressional members are elected every two years, not every four. While this appears like a good thing because it allows for new ideas to be brought into Congress, that’s not happening. Congress members become so fixated on winning the upcoming election and keeping their seat that they don’t do the things they promised they would. The frenzy of having to campaign nonstop causes Congressional members to not get as much done as they could had they not had to worry about a campaign.
Additionally, incumbents (those who are already in Congress) have a much larger chance at winning an election than their opponent. Incumbents have more advantages than their opponents, including (1) advertisements as an incumbent, (2) credit claiming, (3) casework (helping individual citizens), (4) position-taking, (5) and franking privileges (a government bill giving incumbents access to $100,000 to spend on paper advertisements and free postage). These advantages stop the progress of Congress. The people we are electing are those already in Congress, which is why the demographic isn’t changing as America itself is changing. Giving the incumbents advantages like this helps them to keep their seat, and keep new people out.
In order to fix the demographic issue, Congressional terms should be limited to one or two terms, similar to a president, and these terms should be longer than two years. Not only will this help to change the demographic and get more women and minorities elected, it will motivate the elected Congress members to actually get things done when they have their seat, since they know they won't be able to keep it forever. Additionally, the advantages the incumbents receive, like franking privileges, should be universal for all people running for a Congressional seat.
Unfortunately, this solution would be very difficult to accomplish because it directly goes against something outlined in the Constitution itself, and the incumbents themselves would never support it. However, the important thing is that Americans need to realize that Congress does not reflect American citizens the way it should. America is not 80% white and male, so our Congress shouldn’t be either.
