Congress Does Nothing, and This is a Good Thing

“In two decades of record keeping, no sitting Congress has passed fewer public laws at this point in the session — 294 so far — than this one.” This via a WSJ article.

And, from where I sit, on a couch, doing nothing of great import, this fact amounts to a very good thing. There exists a curious American disposition that seems to think doing more is an essential component to getting things accomplished, that being hyper-productive is a key to unlocking a problem’s hidden solutions.

I’d argue the opposite. Being hyper-productive often trumps practicality and priority setting, and obscures the goals of an endeavor. A statement I heard once, from where I can no longer say, that speaks to this curious disposition; “If you’re running around in a frenzy of do do do, you’ll probably end up with a big pile of do-do.” A bit quaint and silly to be sure, but not far from the truth as I see it. I’m of the mind that the world could use more thoughtful meditation and grace, and less multi-tasking agony. Stop trying to discover what “it is”, and start creating what “it is”. We’re making it all up anyway.

As it pertains to the article linked above, I think we’re over legislated in this country. Sure our legislatures might not get anything done, but I’m not really sure I want them too. How about stop the mindless nibbling and start the mindful chewing?

August 21 2008 08:24:32 AM EDT