Criticism and Common Misconceptions of The Congress

The congress is a very important part of our society and they make decisions on things that affect our day to day life. The congress makes many laws and regulations and some pertain to you but some don’t. But congress also makes politics a game that people like to watch. They aren’t in congress for the right reasons.

How a Member Makes a vote showed me many reasons why a congress member is for or against certain laws. During that simulation as a congressman I came out with the vote to pass the amendment to make people who desecrate the flag have major consequences. I voted yes because after listening to the other members it swayed me in that direction. But also going into the simulation I already had my own opinion on the amendment. I think that if people go to war and fight for the freedom of this country and the flag represents the freedom that we have then it should be criminal for someone to desecrate the flag. Also many viewpoints of the other members swayed me toward passing the amendment as well. The one that swayed my vote the most was the war vet that had protected this country, the flag, so that we’d have the freedom that we have today. Also while going through the discussions the one that bugged me the most was the teacher that didn’t want the amendment to pass because she said that it would be harder for her to teach her kids about freedom in this country. That bugged me because I think that the teacher just needs to do her job and teach whatever curriculum that is provided for her to teach.

The first criticism of Congress is that most of the members of Congress are crooks.They are in congress so that they can make money and make them higher up on the totem pole for social status. However, as Cokie Roberts, Chief Congressional Analyst, states, while there are some instances that this may be true, Congress is generally made up of extremely honest people. There are a few generally honest people because of the strict ethics that are required to be in the Congress .Congressmen have to be careful because some things they say or do can inevitably be used against them. With all the strict rules in place for congress members anyone who wants to do bad will get caught because there are so many eyes on them. My opinion on the congress members are that a lot of them are there for themselves so they can make more money and have the benefits of being in congress. But there are always those people that actually want to make a difference and those are the people that we need to put or support behind.

The second criticism of Congress is that, they constantly like to fight and argue with each other instead of getting along and putting their differences aside. When you debate will people or have different views you need to listen to the other side and not get upset just because they don’t have the same belief as you. The people of congress like to play games with each other. Now on the other hand, our country is full of people with their own beliefs which would make it really hard to agree on many of the social issues For example, as Ilona Nickels, a Congressional Specialist at Indiana University, states, representatives from different parts of the country are going to have differentiating opinions on various political topics. Because of this, the men and women of Congress must partake in quiet negotiations that find the common denominators of all the contrasting viewpoints of Congress. However, the public is not able to see this very often which leads to the common misconception that Congress spends most of its time in pointless internal quarrels. This shows that some of the members of congress are trying to make it easier to debate within themselves. My opinion on this is that I agree that most of the people in the congress like to argue just to make a show out of the major social issues that need to be taken seriously.

One common misconception of the congress is that average people do not have a say or influence in the deciding of laws or decisions made in congress. On rare occasions congress will go out and seek problems, but most of the time congress is brought problems by the average person. These problems are the problems that are affecting the community and is why ordinary people will bring forward these problems. So when people think that they are not big enough to be noticed by congress they are wrong. Congress is actually fairly easy to reach so if you have problems within the community that need to be tended to then you need to reach out to your congressional representative. The only way they can solve the problem is by knowing that the problem actually exists and that it is affecting enough people. So you need to bring your problems forward so they can try to fix the problem.

The next common misconception of congress is that the decisions that congress members make doesn’t affect the normal person's everyday life. This is the farthest thing from the truth. The congress makes decisions that affect everyone. Now there are some laws that don’t quite pertain to you but there are many that affect you every single day. For example, when you’re driving on the roads in the morning to get to work, the speed limit of the roads is regulated on a federal level. These set speed limits affect almost everyone on a daily basis. This shows that decisions made by congress affect even the average person. But, if you still don’t believe me then think about when you wake up in the morning, what the average person does after they have taken care of the necessities. Correct, they like to enjoy themselves a nice, warm, steaming cup of coffee. If you do this than the decisions that congress makes affects you, because the coffee that you are drinking is regulated by federal laws. This is necessary to make sure that the coffee is safe for people to drink. Just like any fast food restaurant or any grocery stores that you buy your necessities from. They are all regulated by federal law. So, people seem to think that the congress doesn’t affect their day to day life but they are severely wrong, because congressional laws and the decisions they make pretty much control your whole entire life.

Finally, I think that congress does good work even with the crooks or people that are there for the wrong reasons. Congress affects a person’s everyday life and people don’t realize that. So I think that people need to cast a vote at the congressional elections to put someone that they think is a good fit for the country as a whole. But on the topic of the Flag desecration I think that people should have consequences for the actions of them disrespecting the country as a whole. There may be some views that you don’t believe in but it should never be enough for you to go out and disrespect the whole country.

Works Cited

• “‘Public Criticisms of Congress.’” Base, https://corg.iu.edu/resources/interactives/modules/public_opinion/base.html.
• “How A Member Decides To Vote.” Base, https://corg.iu.edu/resources/interactives/modules/public_opinion/base.html.
• “Interactives.” Center on Representative Government, https://corg.iu.edu/resources/interactives/index.html.