A More Perfect Union

Watching the news this morning, I heard Meet the Press moderator David Gregory comment that the "Tea Party Caucus" in congress is "not interested in legislating." Two things struck me about that comment. The first was how pointed it was, despite the moderator's very moderate delivery. The second is how damning it really is, because it shows a fundamental misunderstanding on the part of the "Tea Party Caucus" about their job.

As members of the legislature, their job in most general terms is to govern. In particular, their job is to craft and pass legislation that keeps the government working. Because the process of governing is messy, that legislation probably won't be perfect and will out of necessity require compromise.

Frankly, anyone who doesn't understand that doesn't belong in congress, because it means they lack a proper understanding of the US Constitution. The intended goal, as stated in the preamble, is to foster "a more perfect union." It's very telling that the writers of the document used that language, because it shows that they understood that the process of democracy was inherently imperfect. The fact that they're more interested in ideological stands than taking the steps needed to govern shows how deeply the current breed of constitutional zealots misunderstands the document and the architects they claim to venerate.

Gregory referred to this state of affairs within the ranks of GOP congressmen as House Speaker John Boehner's problem, but he's only partly correct on this. It's the whole country's problem.