As DNC Chair Tim Kaine delivered a largely predictable speech at Kirkland House last Thursday, Congressman Jim Cooper (D-TN) spoke boldly about “Fixing Congress” as part of the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics Public Lecture Series at Harvard Law School. 
Cooper’s most provocative proposal was to change the pay structure for members of Congress. Currently, all rank-and-file members of Congress, regardless of the size of their state or their seniority, earn $174,000 (usgovinfo.about.com). Cooper would like to see this figure change depending on merit — “legislators should be paid on commission to cut deficits and repeal obsolete laws. Carrots make elephants and donkeys move faster.”
Could this work? Would this expand the Tuesday-Thursday work week in Washington? Would this channel more young, talented people into careers in politics? Certainly if members of Congress felt a greater urgency and responsibility to legislating, government would become more efficient and inviting. Metrics-focused Harvard students would like find interest in measurable progress. Still, Cooper’s proposal lacked details about who would evaluate performance and how performance in teams would be evaluated.
That said, I was impressed with Cooper’s arguments with regards to the Citizens United case. “A cleverly spent million dollars in politics can sometimes buy a billion dollars in tax breaks,” said Cooper. He effectively raised concern in the room about the dangers of the Supreme Court case and argued that the window of time to repeal this case is likely to be closing. The more time that passes, the more companies there will be who take advantage of their newly granted freedoms.
Having read Andrew Seo’s post about Kaine’s touting of the Democratic Party, I could not help but wonder what kind of additional support Cooper would have received had he spoke to a more rank-and-file Democratic audience. As Kaine addressed excited undergraduate Democrats at a sold-out event, Cooper filled a room with mainly faculty and law students that were less passionate about the political system as it stands. Although Cooper bashed the dues-driven practices of party politics, he should have taken a line from the same politics and focused on messaging. Cooper’s ideas are sound, but he needed reach a larger audience — precisely the enthusiastic Democrats that Kaine spoke to. Until this happens, that is until those who challenge the current political system have a fruitful dialogue with rank-and-file Democrats, the carrots that Cooper referred to again and again won’t be moved.
Photo Source: U.S. Congress
