Congressional Politics

[Soaring Crane]

What do you think? Does the U.S. Congress really reflect the will of the people?

[motai]

Congress(wo)men generally represent the will of the people, but it is far more complicated than that. Representatives and Senators are also influenced by money and their own party as well as their constituents. They also have to make many decisions, which means that they will rely on certain interest groups to keep them informed. There is a trend that shows that the House of Representatives is better in-touch with the people than the Senate. Most of the time they are probably worried about being reelected and pushing through pork-barrel legislation rather than focusing on real problems :grumpy: .

[Soaring Crane]

I was thinking of some of the criticisms of Congress. (Yes, a different topic.) Sometimes they delegate too much power to the executive or have tried to be the one in control. Also, gridlock has made Congress look ineffective, and representatives are thought to be too beholden to PACs and interest groups.

Examples that I have are little bit out of date for each (i.e., War Powers Act for the first one). What are some recent examples of the aforementioned criticisms?

Thanks for any enlightening information.