Reid confident he has the votes to trigger nuclear option in Senate

ChrisL said:

And will you still be happy about this move when there is a Republican president again and the same rules apply?

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I absolutely will. Both Presidents deserve to pick whom they choose. I hope this passes.

TheNextEra said:

It works both ways. Ideology drives the GOP as well. Hence why congress has single digit approval ratings.

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Indeed so, but it's not just Republicans who inhabit congress - Democrats live there too and they control half of it. If you check out the congressional support for either party you'll find that both hover relatively closely in the 35 to 40 percent range and out of about 450 seats in both houses up for reelection in the 2010 mid-terms only about 15% changed parties in what was seen as a landslide election for Republicans.

Congressional approval polls mean virtually nothing, in my view. At about 14% approval in such polls, I'll believe they're relevant when about 80% of the sitting members get defeated in a subsequent election.

CanadaJohn said:

Indeed so, but it's not just Republicans who inhabit congress - Democrats live there too and they control half of it. If you check out the congressional support for either party you'll find that both hover relatively closely in the 35 to 40 percent range and out of about 450 seats in both houses up for reelection in the 2010 mid-terms only about 15% changed parties in what was seen as a landslide election for Republicans.

Congressional approval polls mean virtually nothing, in my view. At about 14% approval in such polls, I'll believe they're relevant when about 80% of the sitting members get defeated in a subsequent election.

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You must be mistaking what I wrote. My point was BOTH sides are the problem.

As for Congress, it means quite a bit and shows quite a lot. It shows that Congress is not doing a good job and it shows that the voters think "THEIR" guy is ok. That is complete political discourse and shows how the Dem/Rep duopoloy is ruining this nation.

TheNextEra said:

You must be mistaking what I wrote. My point was BOTH sides are the problem.

As for Congress, it means quite a bit and shows quite a lot. It shows that Congress is not doing a good job and it shows that the voters think "THEIR" guy is ok. That is complete political discourse and shows how the Dem/Rep duopoloy is ruining this nation.

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Fair enough - but I'd argue that even though Americans think their Representative or Senator is good and all the rest are bums, that says to me that Americans believe they are getting good representation in congress from the people they voted for. There would be exceptions, of course, but if the majority keep getting reelected, then that's proof in itself that the system is working, at least at some level.

Personally, I'd say that if you want to have more work done in the House and less politics, you'd need to change the length of term of Representatives from 2 years to 4 years and have their elections take place in the period between Presidential elections. Two years is miniscule in the scheme of things and leaves people more concerned with politics and reelection than in governance. No sooner are they elected than they have to start raising campaign funds and smoozing with the electorate for the next vote. Give them some time to actually govern.