A thought about institutions

There are all sorts of explanations around as to why the Congress is not working well now:

• Too much money needed to get reelected
• Too many lobbyists
• Members too interested in post Congressional careers feathering their nests as lobbyists
• Too many gerrymandered districts safe for one party or the other
• Too many freshman senators
• Members spend too little time in Washington and too much time on the road
• Members no longer socialize among themselves and fail to develop the personal relations needed to reach compromises
• Failure of the old informal agreement to only use the filibuster on racial issues leading to too many votes blocked by threat of filibuster
• Loyalty to the party rather than to the institutions
• etc.

What interests me is that the effectiveness of the Congress swings so widely even without any changes in its formal rules. The tacit rules that govern behavior determine whether the the formal rules lead to good legislation or gridlock.

Of course, it is the changes in the larger formal institutions and infrastructure that produce these changes in informal legislative culture. Campaign finance laws, state government legislation defining Congressional districts, the changing media and the resulting changes in where voters get their information, etc.