[Mb-civic] More Than Minority Blues - E. J. Dionne - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

More Than Minority Blues

By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, August 16, 2005; Page A13

Recently I ran across a small book, a collection of essays called "A 
House of Ill Repute," that should strike fear in the heart of today's 
Republican majority in Congress. Its critique of the status quo is 
devastating.

Are you amazed at how little power the minority has, especially in the 
authoritarian House of Representatives? One shrewd contributor thundered 
against "the tyranny of the majority." He declared that "millions of 
Americans" were deprived of "their fair representation in the 
formulation of public policy" and that "the majority in the House has 
many ways to pass its pet legislation or stall other bills without due 
regard for proper debate and deliberation."

Are you astonished at the eagerness of this supposedly small-government 
Congress to lavish huge sums on a transportation bill and a slew of tax 
breaks for oil and gas interests? "In their effort to spend more money, 
spendaholics will use three basic defenses for their votes," says 
another writer. "First, it's the wrong time and the wrong place. Second, 
however bad this waste is, there is other waste that is worse. Third, 
whatever cuts you want to make are clearly extremism."

Another representative lamented: "I sense arrogance on the part of many 
of my colleagues. It is easy to see how much arrogance can take hold 
when members of Congress seem to be unaccountable for their actions."

The author of the introductory essay summed up the case by referring to 
the homeowner who realizes one day that his "entire house is shabby and 
needs major attention."

Perhaps you have already guessed that these attacks are not the work of 
frustrated, bloody-minded Democrats weary of their current minority 
status in Congress. They come from a book published in 1987 by a group 
of Republican House members. The authors of the above quotations are, in 
order, former representatives Vin Weber, Newt Gingrich, Barbara 
Vucanovich and Joseph J. DioGuardi.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/15/AR2005081501151.html?nav=hcmodule

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