Robert Mann - Working Congress: A Guide for Senators, Representatives, and Citizens

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Working Congress

Media and Public Affairs

Working Congress

A Guide for Senators,
Representatives, and Citizens

Edited by Robert Mann

Louisiana State University Press
Baton Rouge

Published by Louisiana State University Press
Copyright 2014 by Louisiana State University Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
LSU Press Paperback Original
First printing

Designer: Michelle A. Neustrom
Typeface: Sentinel
Printer and binder: Maple Press

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mann, Robert, 1958
Working congress : a guide for senators, representatives, and citizens / edited by Robert Mann.
pages cm. (Media and public affairs)
ISBN 978-0-8071-5737-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN 978-0-8071-5738-1 (pdf) ISBN 978-0-8071-5739-8 (epub) ISBN 978-0-8071-5740-4 (mobi) 1. Political cultureUnited States. 2. Political partiesUnied States. 3. United States. Congress. 4. Partisanship. 5. CourtesyUnited States. 6. Right and left (Political science)United States. I. Title.
JK1726.M37 2015
328.73dc23

2014006077

The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources.

Contents

Introduction
Robert Mann

1. Whats the Problem with Congress?
Mickey Edwards

2. The Ascent of Bipartisanship
to the Congressional Reform Agenda
Ross K. Baker

3. The Challenge of Bipartisanship
A Historical Perspective
Frances E. Lee

4. Congress and Electoral Reform in the
Early Twenty-First Century
Brian L. Fife

5. Cant We All Just Get Along?
Civility and Bipartisanship in Congress
Susan Herbst

6. Is Persuasion a Lost Art?
How Members of Congress Can Stop Shouting and Start Persuading
Mark Kennedy

Working Congress

Introduction

Robert Mann

There are few legislative battles more dramatic and inspiring than the debate and passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965among the most significant and controversial laws of the twentieth century. Their enactment came after decades of struggle and strife in the streets and byways of the nationfrom New York to New Orleans, Boston to Birminghamand on the National Mall in Washington. During the civil rights struggle, the chambers and committee rooms of Congress were also stages for acrimony and conflict. Members of Congress fought bitterly over proposed civil rights legislation from the early 1940s through the late 1960s and even into the 1970s.

Eventually, Congress acted and passed the historic bills. Thats why the civil rights story is not merely about a movement in the streets; it is the story of the triumph of compromise and conciliation in Congress. The civil rights laws of the 1960s offer us some of the best examples of what is possible when political leaders transcend partisan political differences and consider more than just the immediate judgment of voters. The civil rights acts were moments when many members of Congresswith the judgment of history in mind put their reelection at risk.

Looking at these bills with fifty years perspective, in a time when Congress seems paralyzed and unable to act on any bill that is remotely controversial, it is not unreasonable to ask if todays Congress could debate and pass the same civil rights bills. The question is hypothetical in many respects, but it may be useful as we consider what afflicts the current Congress.

Or perhaps there are better questions: Could the current Congress tackle and eventually enact legislation addressing any sort of controversial, emotionally packed issue such as civil rights? Could the congressional leaders of 2014 conduct themselves with the sobriety, dignity, and statesmanship of Everett Dirksen, Hubert Humphrey, Lyndon Johnson, Robert Kennedy, and Mike Mansfield?

It seems that these questions are not difficult to answer. Indeed, its almost impossible to imagine that the story would play out in the same way should current members of Congress be magically transported back to 1964. The Washington that we know today is thoroughly infected with partisanship. Its leaders are acutely focused on short-term political aims and influenced or controlled by lobbyists and political consultants. It is impossible to imagine current members of Congress mustering the bipartisan cooperation and trust necessary to pass such controversial and politically volatile legislation.

Many years ago, when examining the passage of these bills for a history of the civil rights movement in Congress, I was struck by the almost absolute absence of pollsters and political consultants from the equation. When political leaders such as Dirksen, Humphrey, Johnson, and Kennedy met to negotiate the details of the civil rights laws, they did so without political consultants whispering in their ears. They negotiated without benefit of daily tracking polls guiding them on every nuance of the legislation. Of course, political considerations were not far from their minds. They framed their support or opposition in ways designed to be most appealing to their constituents. But they were not slaves to the polls. Upon signing the 1964 bill, Johnson reportedly told an aide that he was probably signing away the South in presidential politics for a generation. He was correct, of course, but he signed the bill nonetheless, strongly suspecting the cost to him and his party. He and many members of Congress believed that history would judge them more kindly than their constituents. They were certainly wise in taking that gamble.

It may not, however, have been such gamble. These leaders enjoyed what many politicians today have never experienceda degree of latitude from the passions of their constituents to conduct business in ways they believed best for the nation. They, especially senators, did not fear immediate retribution by the voters (that is, after all, one reason the Senate was created). The compromises they forged on civil rights and other bills were usually in private and reached only after considerable negotiationnot over social media or cable television. And they compromised with ideological opponents who in many cases were also longtime friends and neighbors.

There was no C-SPAN, Fox News, MSNBC, or CNN featuring pundits and counterfeit journalists shouting insults and analyzing only the political ramifications of the bills, not their substantive details. Civil rights supporters marched in the streets and loudly picketed Washington, but it was often the violent reaction to those protests in Birmingham, Jackson, Montgomery, and Selmathat moved public opinion toward support of the bills. To the extent that proponents and opponents of civil rights were organized to express their views to Congressand they were very well organized on both sidesthe expressions were generally heartfelt demonstrations of opinion, not the poll-driven and consultant-manipulated declarations of what political operatives now call grassroots lobbying or issues management.

Perhaps, despite all the current impediments to passage of controversial legislation, the Congress of today could indeed act and pass the civil rights bills. As Everett Dirksen said at the time, quoting Victor Hugo, nothing can stop an idea whose time has come. Yet it is difficult to imagine these bills, in the current political environment, passing with any significant degree of dignity or high-mindedness among most members of Congress. This is not to say that the debates in 1964 and 1965 were always dignified and responsible, but the worst behavior by southern racists was aberrant and often denounced or ignored by both sides in the debate.

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