What Motivates Congress

It appears that the majority of Congresssmen and Senators are motivated by two things; votes and money. In order to initially become elected and then to continue to win elections to remain in office, our Congressmen and Senators need to receive more votes than their opponents. Therefore, it is logical to assume that they are interested in only doing or saying things that will get them votes, or conversely, in not doing or saying anything that might cost them votes. If that assumption is correct, they will never associate themselves with legislation that might, for instance, require an increase in personal income taxes, even if that is what is really needed to solve a particular problem. Maybe that is why it is so difficult for Congress to tackle a national health insurance system or to salvage our Social Security system.

Money is another motivator for our Congressmen and Senators. Election campaigns can be very expensive as we've all seen with the current campaigns for the 2008 Presidential election. Most Congressmen and Senators don't have the personal funds required to conduct a highly contested campaign. To obtain the funding they require, they solicit funds from the people they represent and from any lobby organization, Political Action Committee (PAC), or any other source that might contribute. It, therefore, is logical to assume that if the National Rifle Association (NRA), for instance, donates money to their campaign, that, if elected, they will not take any legislative action that will not support the goals of the NRA and they will vote for any legislation that supports the NRA, whether or not it is good for the country. Maybe that is a contributor as to why we have so much crime involving guns in our country.

So, when we get to a discussion of issues in future postings, it is important that we keep these motivators in mind. They appear to play a large part in the legislative process and some of the major issues we will discuss will involve suggestions as to how the influence of these two motivators might be diminished.