BY MICHAEL S. JOHNSON  |  DEC 24

When the curtain finally dropped on the tragic comedy that was the 113th Congress of the United States, the only applause came from those who were glad it was over.

Some in the media were probably sorry to see the troupe leave town. For them, it was good theater, and good box office.

But for the masses, the 113th Congress was one of the worst in history and there’s no spinning the facts or passing off lame excuses as explanations for what didn’t happen or why. There’s no sense pointing the finger of blame. We don’t have enough fingers.

The last two years of legislative and executive governance, in fact the lack thereof, reflected badly on the country and phlebotomized what was already anemic public confidence in our institutions of government. Now, it will be even harder to govern in the future regardless of who’s in control of what.

A Republic doesn’t function without public confidence; that’s the whole idea behind a republic—the people sending representatives to the capital who they trust to govern on their behalf.

So what happens now?

As is customary, the 114th Congress will convene with lofty speeches and friendly hugs. All of the House Members and the newly elected Senators will swear to uphold the Constitution and faithfully discharge their duties.

Then, in the days and weeks to follow it will be time to govern. The members will try, each in their own way. They will pass high priority pieces of legislation to considerable fanfare, but ultimately falter and fail. Sustained governance, over the next two years, runs against the hardened grain of the current state of affairs in government and politics.

There are many reasons why this crisis in governance awaits us. Here are my top five:

One, those we elect to help us govern ourselves don’t get along. Over the years politicians have squandered the most valuable assets to governance and one of the greatest virtues of human relationships: mutual respect. We have surrendered too much to anger at those with whom we don’t agree and that which we don’t understand. We cocoon ourselves among our own kind. We are reluctant to give the benefit of the doubt to a person or an idea, and resist gentility, lest it be mistaken for weakness. We don’t listen. We argue rather than discuss. Being right is not a goal, but a compulsion, and a self-defeating one at that.

Two, in a similar vein, it is in the political nature these days to divide rather than unite. There seems to be more for politicians, media, and opportunistic interest groups to exploit and profit from in the divisions that exist ideologically, politically, ethnically, religiously, racially and economically. We are becoming a society of harvesters who separate the wheat from the chaff and take the chaff to market.

Three, the lack of good governance over decades has left us with problems so chronic, so overwhelming, so daunting that solving them to the public’s satisfaction is just near impossible. They have been neglected too long at too great an expense. They run the gamut from immigration to the Export-Import Bank, from common core educational standards to clean energy, from health care to cyber-security. Consider our national transportation infrastructure, badly neglected for so long, it is now a problem much bigger than any solution. How does a Congress and a lame duck President prioritize, authorize, and appropriate funds for repair of an infrastructure that is crumbling under our feet, threatening our personal safety and economic survival? The cost is estimated by civil engineers at $3.6 trillion over just five years. That is more than three times the entire discretionary federal budget. According to Reuters, 63,000 bridges are in need of repair. Add thousands of miles of highways and railroad tracks in dilapidated condition. Airports and air traffic control are desperate for modernization. Would you believe U.S transportation infrastructure is ranked 25th, just behind Barbados?

Four, our governmental and political processes, the infrastructure for problem solving, are in worse shape than our roads. Our elections lack the participation of the vast majority of our citizens for a whole variety of reasons from gerrymandered congressional districts to the education of the citizenry. The media is no longer a reliable source of information and oversight. Its contribution to the governance of the country is destructive, saturated as it is with antagonistic opinion rather than constructive fact. Congressional legislative procedures are in need of reform, from the budget process, which doesn’t work, to the appropriations process, which doesn’t work either, to the degree of participation of rank and file congressmen and women in the work of lawmaking, to the relationship between the White House and the Congress.

Five, the institutions of government suffer from a lack of national leadership. The fault of stewardship and the dearth of visionary direction, are to a large degree rooted in the circumstances that thrust individuals into leadership and the environment they inherit once there, not the leaders themselves. It is also true in politics that good people, capable of leading decline to do so. The personal and patriotic incentives to run for public office and then lead when there, have been snuffed out by the cost and sacrifices necessary to do so.

So gray skies suffuse the landscape. At the outset of a new term of governance, it should instead be blue and cloudless.

Those elected to office and those who influence them, must think and plan beyond the Keystone Pipeline, legitimate as it may be, to those chronic problems of political infrastructure, the deepening cracks and widening fissures in our systems of governance that are rapidly becoming irreparable.

Leaders must ensure that the legislative machinery is sound, and formidable enough to meet the challenges of the 21st Century, not the 19th. They must restore to elected representatives the rights and privileges of governance they’ve lost over decades, but also ensure that they meet their obligations responsibly. They must modernize procedures, especially the budget process, and then respect those procedures even when expediency suggests that they be ignored. They must create an environment in which programs are authorized and funds appropriated as they should be with greater oversight, greater transparency, and most importantly, bipartisan cooperation.

It is the bipartisan cooperation that may ultimately hold the key to success. The demands on elected representatives are overwhelming. Too many of those demands work against them. It is tough to rise above misperceptions and over expectations at home and the pressures of partisan discipline in Washington, none more egregious than fundraising. They work against the kind of human and political relationships that representatives must foster and maintain in order to reach consensus. Bipartisanship should be an option on every issue in every circumstance. That requires building relationships that transcend ingrained partisan divisions and partisan personalities. That means members of Congress working together, traveling together, thinking and acting together. Among the most productive venues for collaboration have been the retreats and conferences in which members engage at the outset of new congresses. More are needed.

There are excellent reform and restructuring plans to consider. I’m working on one with distinguished former members and former senior staff. The Bipartisan Policy Center has another. Even Esquire Magazine has one.

Columnist Jennifer Rubin, citing a Gallup Poll, says the American public believes good governance is more important to Americans than major issues such as the economy, 18 percent to 17 percent.

Thirty nine years here have taught me that those burdened by the daily pressures of political leadership react to the idea of long-term reform and long-term strategic thought this way:

Blah, blah, blah.

What may be right does not always work.

Unfortunately, perpetuating past neglect is getting dangerous.

It has been too easy to slip into a well-established, traditional mindset: Maybe after the next election things will really change, because (pick one from column A: [Republicans will win the Presidency and hold on to their majorities and will really be able to get things done] or [Democrats will retake the Senate and probably the House and will really be able to get things done]. Wait until the next election. The country can wait because the result will be worth it.

That is, if you’re not too old. If you’re not in need of a job or just want a better job. If the kids are getting a decent education. Maybe ISIS will be defeated by then and Vladimir Putin will have resigned, and…

There’s always time. Really?

Editor’s Note: Mike Johnson is a former journalist, who worked on the Ford White House staff and served as press secretary and chief of staff to House Republican Leader Bob Michel, prior to entering the private sector. He is co-author of a book, Surviving Congress, a guide for congressional staff. He is currently a principal with the OB-C Group.