Congress needs to grow up

Congress has finally reached a decision on the fiscal cliff, but the way in which the decision was made disturbed me. Are these really adults? Because the way that they were behaving was reminiscent of high school behavior.

The Republicans and Democrats are drifting further from the middle and closer to the extremes of each party. Some Congress members have forgotten that their jobs are not to cling so stubbornly to their party’s ideology that it renders them ineffective.

They are supposed to function as a voice for the people who elected them; the people who placed their trust in them to represent their interests to the best of their abilities. If that means reaching across the aisle once in a while in order to pass a bipartisan and well-thought-out piece of legislation, then so be it.

Our Congress should not be this dysfunctional. No government is perfect, but something has got to give. We may have passed legislation to avoid the fiscal cliff, but we still have upcoming battles on the debt ceiling and the stopgap measure. We cannot keep putting Band-Aids on situations that may actually require surgery.

We cannot keep using short-term solutions that appear to fix the situation now only to set the stage for more of the same debates down the road.

Enough is enough.

Members of Congress should go back to grade school where team work, cooperation and manners are taught. You know, things you think reasonable adults would understand by now. If the members of Congress refuse to learn how to get along then we only have one alternative: Vote them out and send new people to Capitol Hill, people who may actually do their jobs.

 

Taylor Duckett is a sophomore majoring in economics.Â