Alain Sepeda <alain.sep...@gmail.com> wrote: >
> what is the probable color of the congress, and your prediction. will it > be the same or not? > I predict the same as now: the House will be Republican and the Senate Democratic. Most people make the same prediction, including the Langley High School 12th-grade government classes: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/opinions/outlook-crystal-ball-contest/ > As I understand, a president without the congress cannot do much, not even > what his opponent would have done... In the past this was not a problem. Many presidents, such as Nixon, worked effectively with a Democratic majority in both the House and Senate. In the post-WWII era, most Representatives had served in the military and this make them less partisan. In recent decades partisanship has increased a great deal. In the Senate the use of the "filibuster" has increased from one or two occasions per year to ~100 to ~140 per year. This is a method used by the minority to block legislation not supported by 60% of Senators, instead of a simple majority. I think it should be abolished. Here is a graph of filibusters: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/the-history-of-the-filibuster-in-one-graph/2012/05/15/gIQAVHf0RU_blog.html - Jed
