The topic of this episode is, “What’s wrong with Congress?”

I can’t recall the last time I met someone who said, “Congress is doing great. The first branch of government is getting things done and playing its central role in our Constitutional system.

Nope. Almost everyone who shares their feelings about Congress with me despairs of the state of our national legislature. They think that it is playing second or third fiddle to the president and the courts.

So what’s wrong with Congress? And are things as bad on Capitol Hill as we are told?

Usually on this podcast I have a guest who answers my questions. But this time around I am going to share my own thoughts. So let me give you my top line conclusion before I share my thoughts

Yes, Congress has some real problems. But it is not a hopeless case; nor is it as bad as it seems. Moreover, legislators, Hill staff, and we the people can improve Congress and revive representative government. We really can.

Read the full transcript here.

The topic of this episode is, “What is the primary problem?”

Every two years, we have congressional elections, which feature both primary elections and general elections. For nearly everyone who listens to this podcast, this seems like an eternal feature of governance system: primary elections are used to winnow the candidate field, and then general elections give voters the choice between two or maybe three finalists.

But in truth, congressional primaries are a more recent development in our political history. They became the norm only about five or six decades ago.

And like any other system of rules—be it the laws restricting investments or the rules of baseball—primaries are imperfect and susceptible to gaming by the players. Worse, according to some critics, primaries are fueling toxic partisanship within Congress and curbing its capacity to serve the public.

Is there a primary problem? And what is this problem? To help us think through this subject I have with me Nick Troiano. He is the author of The Primary Solution: Rescuing Our Democracy from the Fringes (Simon & Schuster, 2024). Nick is the executive director of Unite America, an organization that advocates for nonpartisan election reform and alternatives to partisan primary elections.

Click here to read a full transcript of the episode.

The topic of this episode is, “What are congressional norms and why do they matter?”

To many Americans, the United States Congress appears to be a rather nasty place. There are lawmakers calling each other names, introducing resolutions to censure legislators and boot them off committees, and generally behaving towards one another in beastly ways. At least twice in the last few years there were moments when it appeared a couple of members of the House of Representatives might well throw punches at one another.

There is a lot of constitutional and procedural hardball being played in both the Senate and the House. Members are ignoring long-agreed-upon rules or stretching their meanings to justify partisan power plays.

All of which prompts the question, “Is Congress losing the norms that once helped facilitate collective action amongst representatives and senators?

My guest for this episode is Brian Alexander. He is an Associate Professor of Politics at Washington and Lee University. Brian is also the author of A Social Theory of Congress: Legislative Norms in the Twenty-First Century (Lexington Books, 2021), and he is the editor of a new volume titled The Folkways of Congress: Legislative Norms in an Era of Conflict (Brookings Institution Press, 2026).

Click here to read a full transcript of the episode.