Time to find a new measure

By Liam Day
August 29th, 2008

Much has been made recently that, as we slide into election season, the current session of Congress has been one of the least productive in recent memory, passing a mere 294 pieces of legislation.

That the current Congress has been ineffective is, I believe, beyond question. Nevertheless, productivity isn’t the gauge by which we should be measuring our Congresses. Passing legislation isn’t always a good thing, it certainly isn’t always necessary, and I certainly don’t want my Congress passing laws simply for the sake of appearing busy.

As voters, we should absolutely seek measures by which to judge our legislators. Unfortunately, the two which we seem to use most commonly today - how much money they earmark for our districts and how many pieces of legislation they sponsor and get passed - only lead to bloatedness and record deficits.