This is the reason that the 17th Amendment needs to be repealed. When it was passed (with the best of intentions I'm sure - snicker), our nation began a downhill slide that continues today. Everyone complains about partisan politics, but partisan politics is precisely what keeps the government honest. When Senators were appointed, there were no forty and fifty year terms in the Senate like we see in the modern era. Senators left office in concert with local changes in voter sentiment and much more accurately reflected the desires of their voters.The Annoyed Man wrote:The true purpose of the Senate isn't to protect the nation from the House of Representatives. The true purpose of the senate is to protect the interests of states with smaller populations from the competing interests of states with larger populations. When seen from that, more truthful point of view, then the need for a sitting senator to closely hew to the interests of his state's voters, and not to cave in to the competing interests of another state's voters. And when viewed that way, then there is no room for any kind of collegiality which interferes with that more noble (and constitutional) purpose.
If I were king for a day, that's the first thing I'd eliminate. Then I'd close the doors on the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development and Labor, all of which are state, not national responsibilities. Then I would end all subsidies to businesses and every organization that lobbies the government (think Planned Parenthood, PBS, etc.) Then I would end foreign aid and make loans available to those countries who agreed to our terms.
By that time, I'll bet the budget would be in surplus and most Americans would be much happier.