2. Continued
you must know us.
As for me, I have held high office and done the work of democracy day by day. My parents were prosperous; their children were lucky. But there were lessons we had to learn about life. John Kennedy discovered poverty when he campaigned in West Virginia; there were children there who had no milk. Young Teddy Roosevelt met the new America when he roamed the immigrant streets of New York. And I learned a few things about life in a place called Texas.
We moved to west Texas 40 years ago. The war was over, and we wanted to get out and make it on our own. Those were exciting days, lived in a little shotgun house, one room for the three of us. Worked in the oil business, started my own.
In time we had six children. Moved from the shotgun to a duplex apartment to a house. Lived the dream - high school football on Friday night, Little League, neighborhood barbecue.
People don't see their experience as symbolic of an era — but of course we were. So was everyone else who was taking a chance and pushing into unknown territory with kids and a dog and a car. But the big thing I learned is the satisfaction of creating jobs, which meant creating opportunity, which meant happy families, who in turn could do more to help others and enhance their own lives. I learned that the good done by a single good job can be felt in ways you can't imagine.
I may not be the most eloquent, but I learned early that eloquence won't draw oil from the ground. I may sometimes be a little awkward, but there's nothing self-conscious in my love of country. I am a quiet man - but I hear the quiet people others don't. The ones who raise the family, pay the taxes, meet the mortgage. I hear them and I am moved, and their concerns are mine.
George Bush
A president must be many things.
He must be a shrewd protector of America's interests; and he must be an idealist who leads those who move for a freer and more democratic planet.
He must see to it that government intrudes as little as possible in the lives of the people; and yet remember that it is right and proper that a nation's leader takes an interest in the nation's character.
And he must be able to define - and' lead — a mission.
New Orleans, August 18, 1988
The
Human Side of Congress
R
epresentative
Jim Wright
Representative
Jim Wright (D-Tex.), a member of the House of Representatives since1954,
describes
the "nuts and bolts" of congressional decision
making—people
and personalities. As majority leader, a post he has held since
1977,
he
works with the speaker and with committee chairmen to oversee party
strategy and control the flow
of legislation.
After
thirty years as a member of Congress, I am not
an objective observer. I believe Congress is the most fascinating
human institution in the world. It is bevond
question the most criticized legislative assembly on earth, and yet it is the most honored. It can rise to heights of sparkling statesmanship, and it can sink to
THE POLITICAL SYSTEM 155
3.
continued
levels of crass mediocrity. In both postures, it is supremely interesting—because it is human. The story of Congress is the story of people.
Congress is a microcosm of the nation. It is a distillate of our strengths and weaknesses, our virtues and our faults. It is a heterogeneous collection of opinionated human beings. On the whole, members are slightly better educated and considerably more ambitious than the average American citizen. But members of Congress reflect the same human frailties and possess the same range of human emotions as their constituents.
Senators and representatives are individualists, not easily stereotyped or categorized. If there is a single thread of similarity that unites most, it is that they are driven in their work. The average member of Congress works longer and harder than do members of any other professional or business group I have ever observed. The average one of my colleagues probably spends from twelve to fourteen hours on work in an average day. If a member of Congress were to expend the same amount of energy and time in furthering any soundly conceived business venture, I have no doubt that he or she would become rich.
A member of Congress is not some inanimate cog in a self-propelling legislative wheel. He or she is a turner of the wheel, a decider—along with others—of the direction the vehicle will take. True, there is a mechanical process that makes the car function. It needs gasoline. It needs a battery, a working engine, tires, and a universal joint. But knowing the mechanics of a motor—important as that knowledge is—does not tell us where the car is going. Its direction and ultimate destination depend upon who is behind the wheel.
That is why careful students of Congress will do well to pay attention to the personalities of decision makers. They will reflect on backgrounds, personal philosophies, religious persuasions, and economic and educational experiences of members of Congress.
These elements determine how well legislators interact with their colleagues and how much they comprehend and even care about different issues. Constituency pressures and interests, political party affiliation, and results of public opinion polls are important factors, but not infallible prognosticators when it comes to understanding how the Congress operates.
It is instructive to ponder how the typical member of Congress sees the job. It includes more than just passing laws. I would suggest that a U.S. representative is a tripartite personality.
In the first place, members of Congress are required to be ombudsmen for their constituents. A less dignified term might be errand boy. A widow does not receive her survivor benefit check in the mail. A college
wants to apply for a federal grant. A student cannot find a bank for a student loan. One person wants out of the military service; another wants an emergency leave.
The average representative may receive two hundred letters a day. Forty percent of them will deal with the individual problems of citizens enmeshed in the coils of government and looking to their representative as their intercessor.
The ombudsman role should not be despised. If it takes a disproportionate share of representatives' time, it keeps them close to real people with real needs. If citizens are entitled to go through doors that they simply cannot find in the bureaucratic maze, by leading citizens to those doors, representatives perform necessary functions. Were government ever to become so remote and aloof that the average citizen had no intercessor it would be a sad thing indeed.
In a second role, members of Congress serve as traveling salesmen for their districts. Each tries to see that his or her slice of America gets its share of the action. Members try to direct federal projects into their cities, contracts to their factories, and grants to their local institutions of learning. Anything that promotes business or employment opportunities in a member's district is fair game to be pursued with vigor.
Jim Wright
156 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP
3.
continued
The late Senator Robert Kerr (D-Okla.), ranking Democrat on both Public Works and Finance Committees, once was being chided by Senator Albert Gore (D-Tenn.). Gore gently upbraided Kerr for using his powerful posts to promote dams, highways, and public buildings for Oklahoma, while writing tax laws with "unintended benefits" for Oklahomans.
Kerr replied that he wanted to offer only "one slight correction in the otherwise excellent recitation" of his colleague. "That is the point," said Kerr, "at which my friend refers to these as "unintended benefits." I want him to know that they are fully intended benefits. While I am a senator of the United States, I am a senator from and for the state of Oklahoma. I am not ashamed of that; I am proud of that."
Scorn the "pork barrel" function as they may, purists in political science cannot wish it away. It is inherent in human nature. From the clash of conflicting parochial and economic interests, the Congress synthesizes an amalgam that serves the nation as a whole.
In the third role, representatives are often statesmen. There is conviction among members, and courage. If the law makers, on the average, did not usually vote as most of their constituents found acceptable, they probably would not be very good representatives for their districts. They might not be representatives at all for very long.
But occasions arise in the life of each when by reason of conviction deeply held or information not widely known, a law maker is impelled to vote in ways that are at least temporarily unpopular. This is when the mettle of the person is tested. A southerner voting for civil rights two decades ago, a midwesterner supporting the Panama Canal Treaty, someone from the Bi-
ble Belt resisting constituent pressures to breach the wall between church and state—these are examples of personal principle under pressure.
In 1956, then Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson was in a fight for his political life on the Texas home front. Antagonists portrayed him as a turncoat, a traitor to the southern cause, a tool of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People). Powerful epithets two years after Brown v. Board of Education!
Johnson never waivered. "I am not going to demagogue on that issue," he once said to me. "If I have to try to prove that I hate Negroes in order to win, then I will just not win." It was a matter of conscience.
All of the above—a mixture of servitude and conviction, servility and courage—combine to make up the human mosaic of the congressional decision-making process. Lyndon Johnson was a master of that process not because he knew the procedures better than others, but because he had an instinctive "feel" for people. He was persuasive with his colleagues because he understood them. He knew what made them tick, collectively and individually.
As House Majority Leader, I am constantly trying to meld together a majority out of an assortment of minorities. It is often frustrating but always fascinating. Building coalitions in Congress is like being a peacemaker within a family. One must know the concerns and needs of the members and must be sensitive to their opinions and the uniqueness of their individual personalities. Sometimes I see my role as a combination parish priest, evangelist, and part-time prophet. Harmony among this mixture of strong-willed individualists is an elusive grail. Sometimes you cannot find it at all, but it is fun trying.
(From
1987
to
1989,
Jim
Wright was Speaker of the House of Representatives. This interview
was given when he was House Majority Leader. He has since resigned
in disgrace.)
(D-Tex.): Democrat/Texas.
majority leader: party member directing the activities of the majority party on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
speaker, the presiding officer of the U.S. House of Representatives.
pork barrel: refers to the practice of using political office to further the interests of one's supporters.
Panama Canal Treaty: in the Panama Canal Treaties, ratified under President Carter, the United States agreed to hand over the canal to the Republic of Panama on December 31, 1999, and to make the canal a neutral waterway open to all shipping after 1999.
Bible Belt: those sections of the U.S., chiefly in the South and the Midwest, noted for religious fundamentalism.
NAACP: civil rights organization, founded in 1909. Brown v. Board of Education: see pages 109 and 113.
THE POLITICAL SYSTEM 157
Lobbyists and Their Issues
American
Israel Public Affairs Committee
T
homas
Dine, executive director
The
American Israel Public Affairs Committee(AIPAC)
is the only American Jewish organization registered to lobby
Congress on legislation affecting Israel. Headquartered
in Washington, AIPAC is the nationwide
American organization that has worked to strengthen
U.S.-Israeli relations for more than 25
years.
AIPAC
has spearheaded efforts to defeat the sale of sophisticated
American weaponry to hostile Arab regimes,
and has helped to protect and defend foreign aid
requests to Israel of more than $2.2
billion
annually.
On a daily basis, AIPAC lobbyists meet with representatives, senators and their staffs to provide useful material, monitor all relevant legislation and anticipate legislative issues affecting Israel. In this way AIAPC lobbyists serve an invaluable function in the American political process. They are a vital informational and creative resource for members of Congress, helping them to deal with the multitude of issues that confront them every day.
In addition, AIPAC is active on university campuses, educating and involving pro-Israel students in the American political process and sensitizing America's future policymakers to Israel's strengths and needs.
Once a year all 34,000 members of AIPAC, including students, are invited to Washington to meet with their U.S. representatives and to formally approve AIPAC's policy statement, which serves as the organization's guide throughout the year.
The Wilderness Society
R
ebecca
K. Leet, director of education
T
he
Wilderness Society is a 65,000-member conservation
organization founded in 1935
to
ensure the preservation
of wilderness and the proper management of all
federally-owned lands. It is the only national conservation
organization whose sole focus is the protection
of all federal lands—national forests, national parks, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas and the lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
Although the Wilderness Society is a non-profit organization and not a lobby in the traditional sense, it is active in the arenas where public debate shapes federal policy. Primarily the Wilderness Society seeks to educate and influence decision-makers in a variety of ways. Sometimes it lobbies directly on specific legislation, talking with members of Congress or their staffs to persuade them to support a particular bill. The Society also seeks to educate the public about important public land issues by maintaining close contact with the news media. The Society recognizes that reporters and editorial writers who are well-educated about important issues are very likely to turn around and inform their readers about these same issues.
In addition, the Society's staff discusses proper regulation and management of public lands with key government officials; sponsors workshops to teach citizens how to become involved in the policymaking process; analyzes and comments on new preservation and management proposals; testifies at congressional hearings in support of or in opposition to public land measures; and establishes cooperative programs with other conservation organizations. Occasionally the Society's staff has conducted original research. When the administration wanted to search for oil and gas deposits in wilderness areas, the Society, using federal data, found that despite claims by the administration, only a negligible amount of oil and gas exists in wilderness areas.
The fairest public policy is developed when a variety of viewpoints are considered. The Wilderness Society considers that its role is to bring to the process of public policy formation a well researched and clearly articulated point of view that reflects the interests of the public—those concerned and those unaware—who depend on the federally-owned lands to provide recreation, to protect the air and water supplies, to protect wildlife and fragile ecological areas and to ensure a sustained yield of renewable resources like trees and grasslands.
THE POLITICAL SYSTEM 157
Q Lobbyists and Their Issues
American
Israel Public Affairs Committee
T
homas
Dine, executive director
The
American Israel Public Affairs Committee(AIPAC)
is the only American Jewish organization registered to lobby
Congress on legislation affecting Israel. Headquartered
in Washington, AIPAC is the nationwide
American organization that has worked to strengthen
U.S.-Israeli relations for more than 25
years.
AIPAC
has spearheaded efforts to defeat the sale of sophisticated
American weaponry to hostile Arab regimes,
and has helped to protect and defend foreign aid
requests to Israel of more than $2.2
billion
annually.
On a daily basis, AIPAC lobbyists meet with representatives, senators and their staffs to provide useful material, monitor all relevant legislation and anticipate legislative issues affecting Israel. In this way AIAPC lobbyists serve an invaluable function in the American political process. They are a vital informational and creative resource for members of Congress, helping them to deal with the multitude of issues that confront them every day.
In addition, AIPAC is active on university campuses, educating and involving pro-Israel students in the American political process and sensitizing America's future policymakers to Israel's strengths and needs.
Once a year all 34,000 members of AIPAC, including students, are invited to Washington to meet with their U.S. representatives and to formally approve AIPAC's policy statement, which serves as the organization's guide throughout the year.
The Wilderness Society
R
ebecca
K. Leet, director of education
T
he
Wilderness Society is a 65,000-member conservation
organization founded in 1935
to
ensure the preservation
of wilderness and the proper management of all
federally-owned lands. It is the only national conservation
organization whose sole focus is the protection
of all federal lands—national forests, national parks, wildlife refuges, wilderness areas and the lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management.
Although the Wilderness Society is a non-profit organization and not a lobby in the traditional sense, it is active in the arenas where public debate shapes federal policy. Primarily the Wilderness Society seeks to educate and influence decision-makers in a variety of ways. Sometimes it lobbies directly on specific legislation, talking with members of Congress or their staffs to persuade them to support a particular bill. The Society also seeks to educate the public about important public land issues by maintaining close contact with the news media. The Society recognizes that reporters and editorial writers who are well-educated about important issues are very likely to turn around and inform their readers about these same issues.
In addition, the Society's staff discusses proper regulation and management of public lands with key government officials; sponsors workshops to teach citizens how to become involved in the policymaking process; analyzes and comments on new preservation and management proposals; testifies at congressional hearings in support of or in opposition to public land measures; and establishes cooperative programs with other conservation organizations. Occasionally the Society's staff has conducted original research. When the administration wanted to search for oil and gas deposits in wilderness areas, the Society, using federal data, found that despite claims by the administration, only a negligible amount of oil and gas exists in wilderness areas.
The fairest public policy is developed when a variety of viewpoints are considered. The Wilderness Society considers that its role is to bring to the process of public policy formation a well researched and clearly articulated point of view that reflects the interests of the public—those concerned and those unaware—who depend on the federally-owned lands to provide recreation, to protect the air and water supplies, to protect wildlife and fragile ecological areas and to ensure a sustained yield of renewable resources like trees and grasslands.
158 AMERICA IN CLOSE-UP
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THE POLITICAL SYSTEM 159