A Trend of Decentralization

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Krista Slocum

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A Trend of Decentralization

Although Congress began as an entity of centralization, it has slowly taken a trend of strong decentralization. The intentions of the founders of Congress were concerned about excessive power in one branch as well as mob rule and on what basis congress was going to be represented. The solution to this was bicameral legislation that resulted in an upper house, the Senate, and a lower house, the House of Representatives. As this high efficiency, less participation program began to fall into place, a major change occurred in 1970 that dismembered this once centralized system. Factors leading to the decentralization of Congress include the division of powers through the committee systems, congress members focusing on reelection and their incessant attention catered toward constituents. “Members of Congress are not only faced with the daily dilemma of balancing reelection interests with their efforts at upward power mobility within Congress; their lives area also complicated by a cruel paradox, the ultimate incompatibility of widely dispersed power within Congress, on the other hand, and a strong role for Congress in national decision making, on the other.”

        The committee system leads to specialization in areas of interest and expertise at the expense of a consistent set of goals and policies. In the year of 1970 a critical change occurred in which the period of strong centralization, 1889-1910, diminished. During the period of strong centralization, Thomas Reed, the Speaker of the House, was able to eliminate all stalling tactics as well as assigning members of Congress to particular committees. He also had the power to choose the chairmen of which committees and put himself as the chair of rules committees as the most powerful position. Joseph Cannon soon took over for Reed. However, there was a revolt in 1910 that did not allow Cannon to have all the powers Reed had obtained, except for stalling tactics. The hunger for power began to augment and the strong central leadership and authority over rank and file began to transform. National interest was no longer placed ahead of local interest and there were now many opportunities for stalling tactics, making it a decentralized Congress with emphasis on participation, rather than efficiency. Congress wanted to cater more to its constituents, which ironically weakened themselves. There was an explosion of subcommittees which aided the dispersion of power within Congress. “The dispersion of committees maximizes the opportunities of committee chairs to use their power to distribute benefits directly to their districts and states and to take positions on issues that will be appealing to their constituents.” This allowed members to go their own ways in dealing with their diverse constituents. Individual members started to challenge chairmen and tradition had no standing ground as it had before. The typical bureaucrat can be expected to seek to expand his agency in terms of personal, budget, and mission. “Both the establishment and maintenance of a vast federal bureaucracy is explained by congressional reelection incentive.”

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        The desire of the congressmen to get reelected, to compete amongst themselves for money and favors they can bestow upon their districts. The primary goal of the typical Congressman is now reelection, making the Congressman more engaged “in a mix of three kinds of activities: lawmaking, pork barreling, case work.” According to the constitutional theory, Congress is primarily a law-making body that has the ideology that the good of country on any issue is best for the majority of the congressional districts. Committee selection is made to advance reelection, increase power and statues on Capitol Hill or to make good public ...

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