The Pros And Cons Of Congressional Gridlocks

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Congressional gridlock is normal in todays society, the cause of it is the lack of congressional moderates. It is believed that disorganization of a government can have difficulty applying actions to policies. When there are different parties in the government there is bound to be limited power on someone’s end. Legislation action is believed to be a cause. This goes along with the struggle of balancing order and freedom. When some laws are determined to be too strict it is viewed as lack of freedom to some individuals but if there is less strictness then that is lack of order, causing a gridlock. Congress is too worried about not losing and that forces us into a gridlock. It makes your wonder is this the new normal? Examples of congressional …show more content…

The democratic and republican parties also have an impact on the difficulties faced by congress. Even in the clear evidence that congress has had more disappointing sessions, they were still able to pass some serious policies. It is believed that disorganization can have difficulty applying actions to policies. Congressional gridlock has doubled since the 1950’s and that is not surprising when all we hear about is our do-nothing congress. Congressional gridlock on any given issue has roughly doubled in the past 65 years. In 1947-1948 fewer than 30 percent of significant issues were left unlegislated. Compare that with the congress in 2011-2012, which left 71 percent of major issues unlegislated. The fact that the senate requires 60 votes to pass legislation, is a big reason why stalemates has become more common in recent decades. Polarization is another great thing to be blamed. Polarization is likely to cause a congress divide and that is where we find ourselves today. Divide control of congress is where one party controls the house and the other controls the senate. Since 1947 there have been six congresses with divided party control, so it is not like this is the first time it has happened. Congress needs to focus on undergoing a significant transformation to create an environment in which …show more content…

The senate was democratic, and the house of representatives were republican. Because these two were on different parties, the senate did not agree with the budget that the house of representatives had proposed and because the senate did not approve, the budget was not given to the president and this is an example of congressional gridlock. Another example of congressional gridlock took place when Harry Truman man was president when he had his entire agenda killed by congress. Another example of congressional gridlock would be Bill Clintons impeachment. Andrew Johnsons impeachment in 1868 is another great example. Salient issues rose the most in 2003-2004, 2005-2006, and 2011-2011 and that is not surprising given the introduction of new issues such as homeland security and global warming over the course of the last decade. Jefferson states, “the government is best which governs least”, but what affect does that have on society? The competition for power between separated institutions is a driving force. When the legislative and executive branches of our government engage in a power struggle, policies that could be potentially life changing or at the least beneficial, suffer at the hands of legislative gridlock. Polarization has a huge impact on the difficulties faced by congress. A recent pew research poll reveals that ninety two percent of the republican are to the right of