Congressional Gridlock

Congressional gridlock is when nothing is being accomplished by congress. One of the major causes for this is a lack of compromise from both parties of congress. There is no give or take from either side of congress. Most issues have two totally different views or sides taken by each party. Each view is an opinion on the subject, and usually people do not realize that there are no right or wrongs in opinion, that is why we call them opinions. People need to learn to agree to disagree with people and respect other opinions. Having respect for others and their opinions allows us to see their side of things. Having the ability to see the other side does not mean you agree with them, it shows the ability to see other sides of the argument and get

to the point of a compromise. A few examples of congressional gridlock have prevented the passage of specific pieces of legislation intended to address one or more of our nation’s most pressing problems are gun control, immigration, and income stagnation. The democratic and republican parties have taken very different sides in these conversations. Congress and the American people have all had the issue of not listening to each other and forcing their views on others.
A big controversial argument going on in the United States lately is gun control. The recent school shootings have brought up the controversy with gun control and who should or should not have a gun. For the republican party, they are not going to give up their right to have a gun. On the other hand, the democratic party want to get rid of all guns. With the lack of compromise the country will not be able to control the outbreaks of gun violence. Fox News brought in Molly Hemingway who is the senior editor of the Federalist on one of their segments about United States gun control. They bring up one of our president’s tweet, “I will be strongly pushing comprehensive background checks with an emphasis on Mental Health. Raise age to 21 and end sale of bump stocks...” Molly Hemingway responds to the idea of raising the age to 21 to obtain a gun with, “limits gun rights without being something that would help.” (00:03:04-00:03:20) If we push the age to 21 it is not stopping older people from gun violence, and also stopping younger people from illegally obtaining a gun. Guns are already out in the world and if someone really wants to get a hold of one there will always be someone selling them illegally. If congress continues adding laws to enforce gun control that will not stop the people using guns for bad, it will just make obtaining a gun harder for law abiding citizens wanting to use their second amendment right. Another idea brought up by Fox News is arming teachers or administrators in schools. Molly Hemingway also comments on this with, “there are certain teachers who would be qualified and who would have the right stability there.” (00:003:20) This idea is about only arming teachers who have the ability to help, not all teachers are going to want to be armed. This idea could be very helpful in school shootings if the right person is armed. Also, if places and schools would stop using no gun signs. Having those signs shows a shooter there will be no one in there to stop him from shooting. If places would put up signs that they are armed the likelihood of shooters entering would decrease. If democrats get there way, we would just be lowering the ability for people to defend themselves from people who illegally obtained a gun. In another Fox News segment, they state, “Chicago already has some of America’s strictest firearm laws, while it leads the nation in gun violence.” (00:00:10-00:00:23) This shows that gun control does not stop gun violence. If congress does not reach some sort of compromise between each side answer to gun violence it will never get solved.
Another big controversial issue at hand is immigration. Since President Trump has brought up putting up a wall people have been up in arms about immigration and what should be done about it. Democrats want anyone and everyone to have the ability to enter our great nation, while republicans only want “good” immigrants, meaning they want people who will contribute to our society. Having these two totally different opinions on the matter makes it that much harder to find an agreement to satisfy both sides. In The Democrats' Immigration Mistake by Beinart Peter, he discusses the democratic change in thought on the immigration topic. He starts off his article with a quote from a democratic senator in 2015, “When I see Mexican flags waved at pro immigration demonstrations, I sometimes feel a flush of patriotic resentment. When I'm forced to use a translator to communicate with the guy fixing my car, I feel a certain frustration."(Peter) This statement was from former president Barack Obama. In today, if President Trump made this comment people would have another reason to dislike him. Peter states that, “Prominent liberals didn't oppose immigration a decade ago.” (Peter) A big question following this knowledge is why they would change their mind. A big explanation found in the article to explain this is,
“A larger explanation is political. Between 2008 and 2016, Democrats became more and more confident that the country's growing Latino population gave the party an electoral edge. To win the presidency, Democrats convinced themselves, they didn't need to reassure white people skeptical of immigration so long as they turned out their Latino base.” (Peter)

The Democratic party found that most immigrants coming agree with their party and they can win more elections with the Latino vote. In the last decade, the democratic party had the same thoughts as the republicans on the immigration issue in the United States,
“In 2008, the Democratic platform called undocumented immigrants "our neighbors." But it also warned, "We cannot continue to allow people to enter the United States undetected, undocumented, and unchecked," adding that "those who enter our country's borders illegally, and those who employ them, disrespect the rule of the law." By 2016, such language was gone.” (Peter)

Once they found out they could beat the republican party with the illegal immigrants they changed their view creating a bigger issue with immigration in America.

This issue causes congressional gridlock, because they are unable to agree on how to solve the issue on immigration. If the democratic party had not changed their views on immigration there would not be an issue today. Republicans have the same view as the democrats in 2008. Since democrats have changed their views on the issue to wanting everyone to be able to come to America it will be very difficult to satisfy everyone.
Researching congressional gridlock uncovered more information than intended, especially on immigration. Having a hate relationship between the two parties makes compromise strenuous. Congress cannot solve the issue at hand if neither party is willing to give and take on their stances. Congressional gridlock occurs because of both parties refusing to respect the other. Republicans and democrats are both hard-headed and refuse to discuss issues and truly listen to the other party’s side. With both gun control and immigration, if we as a nation just enforce the laws we already have for these issues they may no longer be issues for our country. Since we have these two different parties for two different views on issues it is okay not to agree with each other, but because we are unable to respect each other views we are unable to reach a compromise to get out of congressional

gridlock.