I wonder which half.
The article doesn’t say, but if I were a betting man I’d put my money on the half that aids the party that is technically in power in the House yet achieving absolutely nothing; the half that is taken hostage by an extremist arm that is poisoning otherwise (presumably) respectable resumes. Can you imagine explaining in a job interview that you were a senior staffer for somebody like Boebert or Gaetz? I’d rather just say I was a senior staffer for “a member of Congress” and avoid talking about who exactly. I don’t think I’d even mention which Congress because this session is so goddamn embarrassing to be affiliated with.
The article says it’s not split along party lines.
Honestly, I get it. Dysfunction and corruption in politics has produced a generation of congresspeople who are self-selected for being obstructive corrupt assholes, and dysfunction in media has produced an electorate that’s too poorly informed to be able to tackle the (substantial) task of identifying and removing the bums and installing instead people who would be at least passably interested in forming a part of a functioning government.
My guess is that the staffers, in contrast to the a lot of the politicians, are pretty interested in being part of a functioning government. Even if the person you work for is interested in progress, that means more or less nothing if the rest of the system isn’t on board, which currently it isn’t. It must be frustrating as hell going in to work every day and watching everyone important in your organization just strutting around telling racist jokes and smearing shit on the walls, and then you have to clean it all up and try to turn it into something useful.
(This is by the way one tactic in the process of fascism taking control. Clog up the works of legitimate government to lend a tissue of credibility to your claim “well the whole thing doesn’t work, it’s better if we push it aside and I just run everything instead.”)
You’re right and I hate it. I’m genuinely concerned about what happens in January 2025. Either Biden fumbles reelection and we have a fascist dictator in power or Biden wins in November and we probably see another coup attempt. If it’s the latter, I wouldn’t want to be working in the Capitol that day. If it’s the former, I’m not convinced that there wouldn’t be public executions of dissenting party supporters. I know trump is just a symptom of a much bigger issue, but him being alive and free in the short term is a threat to national security. I don’t say this as a call to action or anything, but as a matter of fact. The American experiment may come to an end within the next year just because a fat, stupid, spoiled, greedy asshole has convinced enough stupid assholes to literally risk their lives to give him everything he could ever want. If we get out of this whole, we drastically need education reform to prevent 1/3 of the country from getting hoodwinked by the next grifter. Until then, I’m praying for that dipshit’s 6th amendment right to a speedy trial. Or that his terrible diet finally takes effect. If there were a god worth worshipping, trump’s diet wouldn’t have allowed him to live beyond the national average in the first place, but here we are, shameless apes on a godless rock.
I think signing up as an election worker is probably a pretty good way to help. I think some shit’s gonna go down, yes, and that’s one small way to put yourself in a position to be there when it does, instead of just leaving the country in “Jesus take the wheel hope it turns out ok” mode.
(And also yes, improving education and news media would be 2 huge steps for fixing it longer term)
In addition to what you said, I suspect that even the politicians that aren’t obstructive and corrupt are still assholes. It takes a certain personality to want to go into politics, and a certain amount of ego to think you should be running things, even the nice ones are likely a bit overinflated. And, from what I’ve heard, at least some of them aren’t paid that well. There’s also the allegations of Klobuchar throwing things at her staff, what kind of abuse are they dealing with behind closed doors - what’s the process if they are being abused by the politician they work for?
I think it varies by the politician. I’ve spoken with people who worked in politics who really looked up to the people they worked for as people trying to make a positive difference in the world (sometimes even succeeding), and I’ve spoken with people who said the people they worked for were just the absolute worst people you can possibly imagine on a personal level. Just like 10 times worse than you think, making your skin crawl to even have to interact with them.
Staffers make garbage money and have really unstable job security. Most of them come in starry-eyed and hoping to make a change and then end up quitting to become a lobbyist so they can actually afford to pay their bills.
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If they all quit, I think it will show how little congressmen actually know and do.
If they do quit, I hope they do so all at once.
If they believed in collective action they wouldn’t be working for the US government.
I don’t know that this has ever not been true. It’s sort of a soul crushing gig
Well it’s gotten worse because many staffers are working for adult children
Or people who shit their pants on a daily basis.
This is 200% dependent on the person you are working for. I’m sure that MTG is terrible, for instance, though I’m also sure that Pramila Jayapal is great to work for.
Nooo . Don’t do that 😏
