Dick Armey Quotes

The Congress at the time was one of the worst in American history, accomplishing little more than nothing, mired in gridlock and ideological hyperpartisanship, with little concern for the nation as a whole. Other critics observe that it is the voting public that elected and re-elected the Congress and therefore must share the responsibility.

The Chairmen of the Committees then had tremendous, almost unilateral power. The chairman reached seniority by being elected over and over and had little opposition. At the time they were almost all older Democratic Congressmen from the "Solid South", very conservative and still racists despite the 1964 Civil Rights Act. They were outraged when a Freshmen member of Congress who rarely made a public statement, took on the most powerful members of the House and wanted to reform the Seniority. But Ms. Chisholm was a teacher in her professional life, and by challenging the seniority system and attracting the enmity of most of the Chairmen, the media and the public started to cover the dispute and Chisholm explained to America exactly how the system worked and how undemocratic and racist it was. Her effort put the Seniority System on the public agenda, and reforms evolved over the next decades." She was the first Black woman to be elected to Congress and was the first Black woman to actively campaign for the Presidency

This was a parody on the adage, “You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.”

Originally published as The Cynic’s Word Book

Describing Everett Dirksen, 1896-1969, U.S. Congressman (Republican, IL):

It has become so expensive for a member of Congress to conduct a campaign, for many members, raising money is their number one priority. To make matters worse, more and more members are being challenged in primaries for their own party’s nomination. In 2010, John McCain, the Republican Party presidential standard bearer, and veteran Senator was challenged for his party’s Arizona Senate nomination, He had to spend $20 million on his primary campaign in a small “inexpensive” state. Then he had to spend even more in the General election against his Democratic opponent. Almost everyone agrees that it is a terrible burden for the men and women of Congress, but no one quite knows how to solve the problem and still adhere to the First Amendment.

The Senate had always been more deliberative than the House, but at the time Alexander made this statement, his party—the minority in the Senate—had filibustered most of all the legislation, There were more filibusters than had occurred in the entire pure history of America.

At the time, the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party had refused to compromise on anything and many saw as their primary objective was to make sure that the Democratic President was not successful with any of his legislative program. There was gridlock and divided government had become paralyzed government. Buffet and most other Americans were fed up with the gridlock and wanted Congress to start compromising and solving problems.