The Problem

The Founding Fathers created Congress in Article I for a reason: they saw it as the beating heart of the republic, the branch closest to the people, the arena where debate, negotiation, and collective judgment would refine raw public opinion into wise, durable law. As Alexander Hamilton put it in the Federalist No. 78, “The legislature not only commands the purse, but prescribes the rules by which the duties and rights of every citizen are to be regulated.” Congress was meant to be the most powerful branch; it has drifted far from this original vision, and the American people are paying the price.

The incentives in Congress are horribly skewed. Our representatives are constantly pressured to do the wrong thing or get punished by the system. We see candidates make bold promises on the campaign trail to bring change to Washington…and then watch with disappointment as Washington changes them. They’re quickly forced to abandon their principles, adopt a group-think mentality, and fundraise their asses off instead of engaging in the important work of legislating.

In recent years, a few representatives have tried to work around the Washington machinery to prioritize the interests of their constituents, only to get run out of town for speaking truth to power.[FN2] The system is designed to silence debate and crush dissent. As Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) recently explained:

I came to Congress five years ago believing I could make a difference for my constituents, for South Carolina and for a country I love deeply. I was the first woman to graduate from the Citadel’s Corps of Cadets. I don’t scare easily. [¶] But I’ve learned that the system in the House promotes control by party leaders over accountability and achievement. No one can be held responsible for inaction, so far-too-little gets done. The obstacles to achieving almost anything are enough to make any member who came to Washington with noble intentions ask: Why am I even here?[FN3]

And Mace is not alone. In fact, Congress is currently experiencing an unprecedented number of retirements, with many members attributing their departures to exhaustion and frustration over the carnivalesque dysfunction and inefficiency within the institutions they had once aspired to serve.

Through years of putting power and money over policy, the forces that control Washington have created a corrupt, multifaceted, and utterly inefficient system of governance that rewards bad behavior by lawmakers and discourages honor, integrity, and cooperation at every turn. Describing this complicated system is daunting; below, I’ve tried to boil it down to eight essential (albeit somewhat overlapping) factors.

1. Washington Bubble

In theory, members of Congress should spend most of their time engaging with constituents, the people who voted to put them there, and thinking about ways to make their lives better. In practice, lawmakers’ days are dominated by lobbyists, fund-raisers, industry experts, trade associations, and think-tank operatives armed with finely tuned arguments and ready-made policy proposals.

Over time, lawmakers inevitably absorb the worldview of these professional influence-brokers. This is not because they are easily manipulated or uncaring; many genuinely want to represent their districts well. But when most of your time is spent with professionals from organized networks with strong agendas, those voices naturally shape your thinking. They frame the issues, define the stakes, and set the terms of debate long before the public even hears about the topic.

2. Distortion of Facts and the Attention Economy

“Democracy dies in darkness.” That’s what they say. Editing for today’s attention-driven media ecosystem: Democracy dies in a house of mirrors.

Americans no longer share even the most basic assumptions about what is true. Without shared facts, the foundation of our democracy, informed voting, becomes highly distorted, irrevocably unrepresentative. Many Americans now base their votes on misleading narratives and outright lies. In essence, we have no idea who we’re voting for and what they stand for. Instead, we’re electing phantom candidates, who have simply expressed the correct outrage for the moment.

I remember the days when Americans got their news from the same set of morning newspapers and nightly broadcasts. In those days, if something important happened in Washington, both conservative and liberal outlets would prioritize the event and get the basic facts correct. Journalistic integrity demanded no less. Today, of course, much of the electorate’s information comes from an endless stream of platforms, feeds, influencers, podcasts, and algorithm-driven systems that prioritize engagement above all else—certainly not journalist integrity.[FN4]

The first rule of engagement: trigger strong emotions. Anger, tribal loyalty, and righteous indignation always rise to the top. Fear spreads 10x faster than accurate analysis. Shout lies, get rewarded. The scarier, the more threatening, the better.[FN5] Nuance, complexity, and hard truths have become politically toxic warts on the face of modern politics.

And if lawmakers want to be heard, they must buy into this system by spitting misinformation, outrage, and outright lies every chance they get. These soundbites get maximum attention, animate their base, and generate campaign donations. Politicians see no downside to lying and exaggeration because, in this new information environment, “facts” have become largely subjective, and ridiculously short news cycles seem to all but erase any gaff, contradiction, or heinous misrepresentation.

When asked what broke Congress, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) quickly laid blame at the feet of the attention economy: “It would either be when C-SPAN came in or social media, but it seems to me that members of Congress became entertainers as much as they did legislators, whether it’s celebrity TV personalities or social media provocateurs.”[FN6] Indeed, if we don’t do something soon, provocation and misinformation will become the norm, not a growing trend, and lying to constituents to trigger outrage and alarm will become the only hammer in every politician’s toolbox.

3. Tribalism

We live in an increasingly tribal society, with political party affiliation growing evermore influential in dividing us. For much of the country’s history, we could disagree on politics and still get along, but now we’ve essentially fused our political identity with our personal one. These days, Red vs. Blue seems like the only game in town.

When politics stops being about policies and goes straight to personal identity, then every disagreement immediately cuts to the quick. You attack my position, you attack me. There is no compromise to be reached. The emotion of the moment destroys rational debate and any opportunity to learn from each other.

Politicians take advantage of this dynamic by weaponizing tribal identity to secure our votes. In fact, it’s safe to say that those in power have manipulated—brainwashed, even—a large percentage of us (We the People) to hate our fellow Americans based on party affiliation—all for their own benefit. It’s certainly not in our own best interests to walk around with so much animosity toward our fellow countrymen and women—and we’re not even going to get into the recent, tragic rise of political violence. Many politicians no longer try to win votes with effective policies that will make our lives better; they just point fingers, stir hatred, and demonize the “other” side.

A frequent refrain, but always compelling: we must never forget that we are all Americans.

4. Gerrymandering and Primary-driven Extremism

Switching gears to the wonky but critically important task of drawing district lines: put simply, gerrymandered districts are anathema to engaged, responsive representation.[FN7]

Gerrymandered districts create “safe seats,” where one party is virtually guaranteed to win the general election. When the outcome in November is predetermined, the real battle shifts to the primary—and primary voters tend to be the most ideologically intense members of either party. Candidates, therefore, tailor their messages to the loudest, most uncompromising voices in their base. And once in office, representatives govern in permanent fear of being “primaried” from the extremes for showing even a hint of moderation or independence.

And they’re not empty threats. These days, outside groups, ideological PACs, and national organizations can pour enormous sums of money into primaries—and can thereby completely change the trajectory of a race. In the words of Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), “This is the only business where you can spend unlimited money to destroy someone’s reputation.”[FN8] The message is clear: break with the base, cooperate across the aisle, or attempt a nuanced position, and you may face a flood of attack ads, dark-money mailers, and scorched-earth online campaigns designed to paint you as a traitor to your own party.

Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D-Texas) explains the obvious consequences: "[T]he redistricting process is what has Congress so broken. When you have red states that draw districts 70 percent red and blue states that draw them 70 percent blue, you create a legislative body that has no incentive to work together."[FN9] In this environment, lawmakers learn to hug the extremes because that is where the money comes from, where the activists sit, and where the danger lies. The result: thoughtful, cooperative decision-making is punished, and performative purity is rewarded.

5. Zero-Sum Mindset

If we win, they lose. If they win, we lose. These days, every issue, every hearing, every vote in Congress seems to get framed as a zero-sum contest. The question is no longer, “What’s best for the country?” but rather, “Which party benefits if this bill passes?”

A bill that might help millions of Americans is rejected simply because it gives the other side a “win.” A bill that does nothing but antagonize the opposition is embraced because it excites the base. Even broadly popular ideas—like lowering prescription drug prices, expanding background checks for gun purchases, immigration reform, and making childcare affordable[FN10]—get strangled in the crib by partisan scorekeeping. The result is predictable: stalemate, strategic obstruction, and the steady prioritization of party advantage over national interest.

And we really need a strong Congress right now to balance out the executive branch’s endlessly growing authority and to address judicial rulings that require legislative fixes. But lawmakers consistently fail to deliver. As Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) put it: “It’s not clear the founders anticipated that partisan factionalism would swamp members of Congress’ imperative to defend our branch as a co-equal branch.”[FN11] When scoring political points becomes the only priority, bipartisan legislation dies on the vine and Congress withers to an impotent husk of its former self.

6. Performance and Spectacle Over Hard Work and Problem-Solving

If the zero-sum mindset shapes how Congress thinks, performance politics shapes how Congress behaves. Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-Pa.) take on what broke Congress:

The performance art and having to monetize everything. It’s turned all of us into OnlyFans models just monetizing your latest protest or your latest speech or whatever. There’s not a lot of dignity in it.[FN12]

In this environment, hearings turn into televised wrestling matches. Oversight is overtaken by ideological monologues. Press conferences become audition tapes for cable news hits. The incentives are obvious: the more theatrical you are, the more attention you get; the more attention you get, the more influence, power, and funding you gain.

This shift toward performance leaves the unglamorous grunt work of governing—negotiations, drafting, analysis, oversight, coalition-building—delegated, neglected, or outright abandoned. Why work quietly and assiduously on a bipartisan bill that solves an important problem when a fiery speech or a dramatic confrontation could rack up millions of views by dinnertime (and thereby potentially secure your seat in the next election)?

7. Endless Fundraising

Modern campaigns are expensive, and fundraising is a constant pressure on representatives’ time.[FN13] Members of Congress are forced to spend countless hours calling donors, attending events, or producing digital content designed to keep money flowing. Get to Washington and start “dialing for dollars.”[FN14] From all accounts, fundraising for the next election is pretty much a full-time job. And, as you might guess, all this phone banking and glad-handing takes time away from our representatives’ real job of solving problems for us, their constituents.

Adding insult to injury, this pressure to raise money never diminishes. For one thing, the goal posts always move. The more money a lawmaker raises, the more power they gain—from better committee assignments to leadership opportunities.[FN15] Fundraising doesn’t just keep them in office; it boosts their stature inside the institution. Further, Congressmembers are constantly expected to fundraise. As former Senator Olympia Snowe once said, “the campaigning never stops, and the governing never begins.”[FN16]

8. Systemic Punishment for Integrity

All of these factors combine to create an environment that discourages integrity from our leaders. It is as if our lawmakers are playing a game that has nothing to do with the work we expect of them. Instead of forging thoughtful solutions with their colleagues, lawmakers are encouraged to throw flames, excite hostility, and submarine any legislation proposed by the other side, no matter how useful or significant.

In this setting, admitting error or telling an inconvenient truth can end your career. Supporting a bipartisan bill can trigger a primary challenge. Challenging misinformation within your own party can lead to ostracism and expulsion. In the end, the cost of doing nothing is far less than the cost of standing up for your values and doing your job. When the political system rewards loyalty over honesty and outrage over responsibility, even well-intentioned leaders find themselves trapped into silence and inaction by Washington’s perverse incentives.[FN17]

***

These days, Congress’s futile power-brokering often resembles nothing more than an increasingly unhinged reality show. The current system seems designed to frustrate citizens, weaken critically important institutions, and erode public trust in democracy. Lawmakers are forced to focus on money and media attention rather than on solutions to everyday problems. They must choose conflict and misinformation over cooperation and truth-telling. And the deeply ingrained incentives in Washington seem to always punish those who take a stand. Politics has gotten meaner, more polarized, and less connected to the daily realities of the people it is supposed to serve. It is time for that all to change. And it’s up to us, the voters, the constituents, We the People, to demand such change.