We’ve been hearing a lot about change during this election cycle. Part of it is at the initiative of Senator Obama as the central focus of his campaign. Part of it is in response by Senator McCain to inject himself into the dialogue and point out that he, too, can be a motivator for government change. And on the other side of the political spectrum, Ron Paul has been pounding his fists and screaming that, actually, neither of the political candidates from the major parties has truly offered any sort of real change.
My question is whether government can motivate real change in America at all. Given the rhetoric of the campaigns and popular opinion shown through the latest campaign polls, the initial answer is that, surely, government can change America. In fact, we the people are demanding that it must. However, I am skeptical that government can provide the change we are looking for because the Fathers of the Constitution designed our government to be that way.
The Framers of the Constitution were extremely smart people who knew that the worst thing for America would be to set up a system where one individual or small group of individuals can unilaterally make sweeping decisions for the rest of the country. As a result, our lawmaking body is divided into two houses (Senate and House), that must both approve of a law before it gets to the president to sign.
The House of Representatives is based on the idea of proportional representation, meaning that states with a bigger population have more representatives. Further, the entire House is re-elected every two years. This feature is perhaps the most important in shaping how the House actually functions. Since re-election is a necessary procedure every two years, the members of the House are very much at the mercy of their constituents. If the public disapproves of its members in the House, they have frequent opportunities to oust representatives in the House. Therefore, the House can actually get things done quickly assuming that the constituents want the same thing.
On the other hand, the Senate functions on the premise of equal representation. Each state only has 2 senators. Additionally, only one-third of the Senate is up for re-election every two years, which results in each Senator serving six-year terms. Because Senators don’t have the pressure of being re-elected as often as members of the House, they can make decisions based on their individual opinion as opposed to decisions based on popular opinion. Some may think that going against the will of the people may sound like a horrible idea, but remember that angry mobs typically represent popular opinion. Part of the role of the Senate is to act as a rational voice in a heated and contentious political atmosphere, and the Framers of the Constitution were cognizant of that role.
As a result, a lot of obstacles need to be overcome in order to pass laws that can enact change. While America is so hungry for change, whatever exact form that might be, we need to understand that America wasn’t built to withstand change so quickly. Our structure of government actually prevents it from happening. Or at the very least, it prevents it from happening quickly. Therefore, if we’re starving for change, I think we should be looking outside of our government to find it. Instead of demanding change from an entity that is ill-equipped to provide it, we should demand change from ourselves, and appoint ourselves as instigators of that change.
