Careerism In Congress

When the founding fathers first established the U.S. Congress, congress was considered an unpopular job. Congress members had to travel far, be in sessions that were long and hot and there was not much to do in national government. Nonetheless, Congress has become a strong and stable institution through careerism and organization of committees. However, party leadership power is dependent on how much the constituent knows and feels about government and if there is a divided government Congress has many layers to make it an institution, which establish the way congress operates. One of the reasons is because being a congress member is now considered a highly favored and highly praised career. According to lecture, before the Civil War congress …show more content…
Legislators were able to specialize and get a deeper understanding on how Congress and its committees operated than they had before. It is furthermore easier to stay in congress once first elected, as there are a variety of advantages incumbents have than challengers. Careerism made congress members stay longer because incentives had increased. Careerism additionally helped stabilize committees and structure institutional maintenance committees that structured what the house would be able to get done. The rules committee, ways and means committee and appropriations committee became very powerful committees and awarded to only senior congress members who were safe in their district. Thus setting a new precedent that members of congress are always trying to get elected, which meant congress members focused more on representing the attitudes of their constituents. Therefore, because Congress members were representing their constituents and trying to get re-elected, they often sought to help out each other. Logrolling became a common thing as the King of the Hill process, which allowed congress members to conceal a vote that would look bad to their constituents. Due to these practices parties were less polarized and less stringent, making party leadership …show more content…
Also the congress generally exercises its negative powers to keep the status quo rather than create new policies that possibly could benefit the collective good. Correspondingly, constituents of the minority party are less likely to see policy they agree with and because voters can only vote for a change of the congress members, but not a change in the institution a cycle begins to form. This cycle benefits the majority party because the majority party constituents will most likely be satisfied because more legislation in their favor will be passed. Therefore, congress does not represent the nation as a whole under strong party