I had the good fortune last week to spend some time in Washington, D.C., with about a dozen former members of Congress. As you'd expect, we got to talking about the current Congress. Very quickly it turned out that the same question was troubling all of us: Why is it held in such low public esteem?
We represented both parties and a variety of eras, and had a range of experience under our belts. But we all found ourselves chagrined by what we’ve been witnessing. You have to understand that most former members of Congress believe deeply in the value of the institution for American representative government. We might take opposite sides of particular policy debates, but on one point we all agree: We want the institution itself to succeed and thrive. These days, it’s doing neither.
