by Matthew Caputa

Widener University Political Science Major

“Ew, like oh my God they never get anything done” and “Ugh, why can’t they just get along for the good of the country”, “Like, even I could vote yes”.

Congratulations America, we did it.  Somehow throughout our entire lineage of patriotic prosperity and economic freedom the people in this wonderful land have come full circle.  U.S citizens actually, and no this is not a joke, have given congress the approval rating of a cockroach.  And based on the polarization of the media’s coverage of Capitol Hill, this statistic isn’t quite as alarming.  It appears that the population in America has lost hope in its representatives and nothing is ever going to get accomplished because hey, “congressmen are selfish pigs without the people in mind”.  While that might hold true, it is certainly not appropriate for the former, but rather the latter of those two.

Congressmen are accomplished legislators, businessmen, lawyers and many other respected positions.  Most of the members of the House, and all of of the Senate, ran a campaign which garnered the trust of the majority of their constituents to hold the prestigious duty of representing them.  Boom!, they made it, and have reached the highest run of society.  So tell me how I, an undergraduate still trying to figure out if my peach fuzz will ever turn the appropriate color on my face, is in any position to judge my representative on what he does.  Yes, we have specified interests and chastise Congress at any opportunity for not delivering, but seriously, what do we really know about our legislature?  The truth of the matter is that the true majority of America knows nothing.  They read a headline on CNN and all of the sudden morph into Karl Rove for the day.  “Gun control? I say congress agrees and lowers crime” “Congressmen X,Y,Z are all dumb because they listen to their party”.

The American people need to get over themselves and let our politicians do their job.  But if you really feel the need to criticize congress then read the Constitution, and spend 8 years of higher education learning about how it really works. Most importantly though, stop pretending that you would actually be anything different.