What You Really Voted For

But the deeper source of the Postal Services woes is the U.S. Congress, not some imagined incompetence on the part of its managers and executives. In fact, the Postal Service is quite well managed and operates as efficiently and effectively as we have any right to expect, given the constraints we have imposed on it. And the main constraint is political: We have allowed the U.S. Congress to control the agency, and for decades – centuries, really – Congress has dictated that the Postal Service operate in ways that are politically useful for members of Congress even though they make no economic sense. In the process, our elected representatives have steered the agency into a ditch.

Everyone knows American politics are unusually polarized these days. But who stands at the left and right poles? Our colleagues at National Journal are this week releasing their annual rankings of how liberal and conservative members of the House of Representatives are.

On the right side of the aisle, it will surprise almost no one that former Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri was the most conservative member of the House in 2012. Akin, of course, came to prominence with his ill-advised, ill-informed suggestion that in the case of “legitimate rape,” a woman’s body can prevent conception. That comment helped him crash and burn in his attempt to unseat Senator Claire McCaskill. Akin scored a 97.0 on NJ’s scale.

(Source: The Atlantic)

“Republican congressman and member of the US House of Representatives science committee Paul Broun dismisses evolution, the big bang theory and embryology as ‘lies straight from the pit hell’. Speaking at a Baptist church last month, Broun says that ‘as a scientist’ he has found data that shows Earth is no older than 9,000 years”

Do your US Representatives promote income inequality? See how they did on the inequality report card.

(As always, click the image to follow the link.) 

“Early in the year, the economy seemed to be gathering momentum. In February, it added 220,000 jobs. In March, it added 246,000 jobs. In April, 251,000 jobs. But as markets began to take the Republican threats on the debt ceiling more seriously, the economy sputtered. Between May and August, the nation never added more than 100,000 jobs a month. And then, in September, the month after the debt ceiling was resolved, the economy sped back up and added more than 200,000 jobs.”

Senator Bernie Sanders is an independent politician, he’s beholden to no party, only the people he represents. 94% of his campaign donations are from individuals, not corporations. He’s the kind of man you want to listen to when he takes 25 minutes to explain what should change in America.

“Even as Countrywide’s CEO Mozilo mocked Fannie Mae and top executives for its crony capitalism business model, he would nonetheless personally intercede to ensure executives had access to discounted Countrywide loans,” Issa said in his statement. “These relationships helped Mozilo increase his own company’s profits while dumping the risk of bad loans on taxpayers.”

“Six years later, in 1798, Congress addressed the problem that the employer mandate to buy medical insurance for seamen covered drugs and physician services but not hospital stays. And you know what this Congress, with five framers serving in it, did? It enacted a federal law requiring the seamen to buy hospital insurance for themselves. That’s right, Congress enacted an individual mandate requiring the purchase of health insurance. And this act was signed by another founder, President John Adams.”

“The House of Representatives holds the title of the most anti-environment House in congressional history. Led by Republicans, the House has voted against the environment 247 times in the last 18 months, averaging one anti-environmental vote for every day the House has been in session.”

“The 111th Congress in 2009 “was exceedingly productive. It was a time of unified government,” said Thomas Mann, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and co-author of“It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism.” “If you look at major legislation passed, it ranks with the most productive in modern history.”“