Why Congress

By: Philip A. Wallach

Narrated by: Brian Wiggins

A bold defense of our nation's legislature and its ability to work through the country's deepest divisions, and a stark warning of what our political future holds if we allow Congress to decay.

Like it or not, our country's future depends on Congress. The Founding Fathers made a representative, deliberative legislature the indispensable pillar of the American constitutional system, giving it more power and responsibility than any other branch of government. Yet today, contempt for Congress is nearly universal. To a large extent, even members of Congress themselves are unable to explain and defend the value of their institution.

Why Congress takes on this challenge squarely, explaining why our increasingly divided politics demand a legislature capable of pitting factions against each other and forcing them to work out accommodations. This book covers the past, present, and future of the institution to understand how it has become so dysfunctional, but also to suggest how it might be restored. The book vividly shows how a healthy Congress made it possible for the country to work through some of its most difficult challenges, including World War II and the struggle for civil rights. But transformations that began in the 1970s ultimately empowered congressional leaders to suppress dissent within their own parties and frame a maximally divisive agenda. In stark contrast to the earlier episodes, where legislators secured durable political resolutions, in facing contemporary challenges, such as immigration and COVID-19, Congress has exacerbated divisions rather than searching for compromises with broad appeal. But Congress' power to organize itself suggests a way out. Wallach deftly explains that while Congress could accept its descent into decrepitude or cede its power to the president, a Madisonian revival of deliberation can yet restore our system of government's ability to work through deep divides.

©2023 Phillip A. Wallach (P)2023 Recorded Books

Read this now

One of the best and most useful books I’ve read on politics in the last 10 years. Clear-eyed about our government’s flaws, while also laying out ways that it can get better (or still worse). Whatever your politics, there’ll be something you’ll disagree with here, but I guarantee you’ll be challenged and learn something. Download this instead of yet another book about Trump.

A Pretty Good View of What We Should Expect from Our Representatives

The book covers two main ways Congress can and has worked in its history. One way is for two strong, united parties held together firmly by powerful Congressional party leaders to spend their time working to force their party's agenda forward and make the other party look bad to gain a bigger majority in the next election. The other way is for members of Congress to represent their own district, organize the center of both parties on different issues, create strong committees for alternate centers of power, and use deliberation to come to solutions to difficult problems that reflect the diversity of interests of the American people. He advocates the latter.
He is realistic in his assessment of the possibility of this, noting that it has happened in the past. I wonder what other options there are. It seems the alternative is more and more extreme parties, a more and more powerful executive, and a more and more alienated population.

Required reading for all Americans

Great review of why Congress is so essential to our country, and why revitalizing it should be a priority.