What’s the Matter With Congress?

Mr. Edsall contributes weekly essays from Washington on politics and demographics.

Do the individual timidity of senators and representatives and their refusal to defy partisan pressures explain the failure of Congress to address key national issues, or is it that polarization has structurally locked the House and Senate into prioritizing each party’s interest over the national interest?

For over a year I have been having a running debate over what’s wrong with Congress with my old friend and former Washington Post colleague Steven Pearlstein, now a professor of public affairs at George Mason University.

Steve faults the lack of bravery and integrity and the unwillingness to defend congressional prerogatives. I see the problem as a result of affective polarization in the form of partisan hostility, if not........

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