Do Nothing Congress

When one considers how vehement all the political arguments are, the real reason is that the people doing most of the arguing have fairly extreme views.

Take something like gun control.

Most Americans agree that some common sense controls should exist to prevent letting guns get into the hands of dangerous people.  We know that from every poll out there.

But the argument gets framed by the extremists as all or nothing.  One side argues that the Government is planning to take away everyone's guns.  The other side paints gun owners as troubled individuals who may be compensating for other inadequacies.

Now neither of those views represent a majority but we allow those extreme position to frame the political argument because it is those groups that are most fervent.

Meanwhile we don't have sensible gun controls and unfortunately the next school massacre may only be delayed by the summer recess.

Now we have always had extremist views but they are more prevalent now because of what we did in the political parties.  Not too long ago most candidates were selected by party insiders and the primaries were a way to simply endorse the right candidate.

This may sound undemocratic, but it was probably more democratic than the system we now have where so few vote in primaries that whoever has the most upset supporters can win.

You see candidates energize a relatively small group over a specific position and ride that to victory in a primary since the turnout is so low.

You see people win primaries that really are not close to representing the majority of the people in that party, but they are now the standard bearer.

It has led to more extreme candidates who get elected in safe districts and who are non-compromising in the issue they represent.

So nothing gets done.