October 8, 2013 (Tuesday)
“Hey, now that we have television why don’t we put cameras in the Senate and House of Representatives so that we citizens can tune in and watch those we have elected as legislators go about the business of governing the country?” Perhaps that was the question someone asked that got the ball rolling to do that, because it has been done. The “C-Span” channels broadcast the proceedings of the Senate and the House and make them available to all of us on our own television sets.
The daily speeches in the House and Senate that we see on C-Span TV are almost always made to virtually empty chambers, with the speakers coming in on cue to stand before the cameras and microphones and speak as if they were speaking to each other. But they are really speaking to the television audience–to you and me.
The real business of both houses is conducted behind the scenes. Discussions take place in committees, many times through assistants, in emails, on the telephone or personally in one-on-one conversations, and no doubt in many other ways. The huge numbers of bills presented by members of both houses and the massive number of pages in each piece of legislation result in members finding it impossible to read all the bills, much less discuss them thoroughly when in session. Many votes on bills are made on the basis of research done by staff and input from other sources.
Long, long ago when the Constitution of our country was being written, and the three branches of government were being designed, it is doubtful that anyone envisioned a system where the actual business of congress would be handled as it is today. I guess that James Madison and those who worked with him framing the Constitution thought that senators and representatives would be elected, make their way to Washington and the Capitol, attend the sessions of their respective bodies, and stand to make speeches presenting legislation that would be accepted or rejected by their colleagues. It would all be open and above board–the records of every word spoken there for anyone to see. That was probably the vision. In those days almost everything in life was much more simple than today.
I’m sure that the articles regarding the Executive Branch were based upon the same rather simple expectations for what is now known as an “Administration.” For many years access to the president was relatively easy for any citizen. We need to remember that growth of a nation took time and early population was small when compared to that of today. Political life is more complicated in our modern era.
Plain, honest talk from all our leaders would be deeply appreciated by most Americans. I know I am naive to believe that such could be possible in today’s sophisticated world, but wouldn’t it be great to be able to accept whatever a politician says at face value, to have assurance that the people in government say what they mean and mean what they say?