Like a chant or a prayer, the words are repeated as we head into the legislative season. The California legislature does too much. They pass too many bills. Why all this trivia and silliness? Why introduce all these broad strokes that will never pass? Why not take great care and wait? Wise men from George Skelton to the governor have made this point, again and again. “I definitely think there are too many laws, just as there are probably too many regulations,” said Jerry Brown in 2011.
It turns out that there’s a place that lives by the words of the wise men.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Congress of the United States.
Today’s Congress sounds like a wise man’s dream. They barely pass anything – this Congress had passed fewer than 60 laws at last check. They don’t do much that’s silly or trivial. And they’re no longer taking on broad strokes. Indeed, they don’t do much at all.
For this, they must be praised, and hailed for their patience and wisdom.
Alas, no. Congress is routinely pilloried. It is called dysfunctional. Different factions within it are dismissed as crazy. Wise men fall over themselves to tell us just how bad it’s gotten.
You can’t please the wise men.