Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Christian Piatt

Home
Progressive Christian
Why We Don’t Trust Congress

Why We Don’t Trust Congress

Last updated on: October 10, 2017 at 2:50 pm by Christian Piatt

Why We Don’t Trust Congress 2017-10-10T14:50:07+00:00 Christian Piatt

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

James Madfison - Tyranny Welcome to the world of the eternal campaign.

Even by the time the Trump White House wrapped up its first 100 days, democrats scoured their ranks for viable congressional candidates. Republicans, worried about losing their majority, girded themselves for campaign battles across the map in 2018. But regardless of who claims a congressional majority during the midterms, they will face a public wary of their motivations and competency.

It’s hard to imagine fighting so hard for a job where only about one in five Americans approve of the results they see from the halls where they yearn to sit.

We have reasons for our distrust. Congress seems more intent on partisanship and on campaigning than they are on acting as public servants. They advocate for a different health care system for the rest of us than they do for themselves. They fail to stick to campaign finance reform and they protect their own version of insider trading.

All of this plays a role in our distrust. But there’s a deeper core issue at play.

There are the more obvious realities, like the fact that a majority of Congress is made up of millionaires. But the deeper we dig, the more we realize they don’t look or live much like us at all.

There are a couple of ways to look at this issue. Sources like the Pew Research Center and The Hill tout that our current Congress is the most racially diverse in history, and that’s a good thing. But tin spite of that progress, the current legislators are 80 percent white, 80 percent male and over 90 percent Christian. Meanwhile they hit the campaign trails and offer sound bytes arguing that they’re “one of us,” and that they really get what we’re going through.

A few of us, yes. But most of us have no real representation in the legislature that know much about how we live or who we are, let alone come from a similar experience.

So what would Congress look like if they truly reflected America? Below is a snapshot.

240 of them would have a family adjusted gross income of $30,000 or less (their congressional salaries alone are $175,000 each)
78 would live in poverty and no more than two of them should be millionaires (none of them lives in poverty and a majority have a net worth of at least $1 million)
22 would identify as LGBTQ (there are 7 who openly claim to be)
210 would claim either to be a religion other than Christian, or would identify with no religion at all
272 would be women

But there are ideological disconnects too. While 97 percent of Americans believe in global warming and 95 percent of Americans believe in human contribution to global warming, 53 percent of Congress are climate-change deniers. We also tend to be more nuanced in our views about gun control and abortion than many pundits and politicians claim to be.

In fact, therein lies a fundamental flaw in our legislative – some might argue our entire political – system. Most of us have somewhat layered, nuanced or even fluid thinking on a number of complex issues. But far too often we’re presented with one stringent view held by one major political party, while the other major party embraces the polar opposite.

And while this sort of debate and decision-making process is more streamlined and easy to understand, it hardly reflects reality.

So maybe the more reasonable question is: If Congress doesn’t look, live or think like us, why in the world should we trust them?

Part of the issue rests with the ways in which elections are most effectively influenced. Though We’d like to think we care deeply about issues and voting records, psychologists remind us that we’re not as rational as we think, and that our voting is more emotionally motivated than we realize, here and abroad. That’s why public opinion and voting metrics can be swayed so powerfully by ads and sound clips, regardless of whether they’re used out of context. And as much as we say we hate negative campaign ads, they work.

Enough ad exposure to move an election costs money, and as the old saying goes, money attracts money. Social circles are built around affluence and influence, and we tend to support those we know. So rich people know lots of other rich people who can support their campaigns, which often cost into the ten of millions of dollars.

And finally, the legal-in-word-but-ethically-questionable-in-execution practice of gerrymandering (reorganizing election precincts, which tends to be controlled by the party in power) more deeply entrenches existing ideological silos nationally, further resisting any real, substantive change on the Hill, despite the pledges to the contrary.

In the end, however, nothing is more power than a populous made up of rigorously informed voters. It takes time, energy and a willingness to go beyond our typical comfort zones to consider multiple sides of important issues, but it is we who allow ourselves to be swayed by the “same old same old.”

We all know we need to work better as a nation. But in order to get it, we have to do better in the voting booth.

Christian Piatt is an author, blogger at Patheos and founder/cohost of the Homebrewed CultureCast podcast, where he focuses on the intersection of faith and popular culture. His latest book, “Leaving A-holiness Behind,” is available now, and his next book, “Surviving the Bible: A Devotional for the Church Year 2018,” will be available November 1, 2017.

Previous Post

October 4, 2017

White Men: Most Dangerous People in America?

Next Post

October 16, 2017 This Episode is (Kinda) a Matter of Life and Death

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category atonement belief bible Bill O'Reilly Buddhism CCM children christian piatt christianity Contemporary Christian Music current events derek flood Easter education Everyday Sunday faith faith and culture Frank Schaeffer great commission Haaz Sleiman Hobby Lobby Homebrewed Culture humor ISIS Jesus John Paul Lederach Killing Jesus LGBTQ marc driscoll Mission Year Music My Jesus Project Nat Geo parenting politics popular culture postChristian prison reform Ray rice religion republicans sacrifice sexuality theology Uncategorized video violence wild goose festival World Vision young adults

Select a Month December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who prophesied about the birth of Jesus in the Old Testament?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Daniel Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel