Lawmakers are often accused of being lazy, incompetent, greedy, and/or incapable of crafting laws that solve the state's pressing problems. Take the legislator's viewpoint, and explain why it is difficult to accomplish one's job in today's political environment. What conditions complicate the job of legislating?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Varies; students might approach this question in several ways, but answers should focus on the institutional and political factors that frustrate the kind of quick action and responsiveness that many citizens might expect of their representatives. Some of the conditions to consider include term limits (legislators today may not have a comprehensive understanding of state programs or the process itself but are responsible for chairing committees, for example, and many are either in a learning curve or looking for their next office); the volume of issues with which they must deal; the electoral process (expensive races and relatively short election cycles pressure legislators to continually campaign and raise funds from those interests for and about whom they write bills); constraints imposed through the initiative process (budgetary rules, for example); the involvement of many interests in the process and the basic need to reconcile competing interests (the need to compromise among "hyperdiverse" interests, and the inability to please everyone); the existence of rules that thwart compromise (rules imposed through initiatives, such as the rule that two thirds of the legislature must approve an increase in taxes or fees); and partisanship (rigid ideological positioning and an unwillingness to compromise).