Congress is unfit to solve the nation's problems

While many people in any time want to criticize the president for the nation's problems, the real truth is there may not be much the president can do one way or the other. The executive office can be influential to help causes, but when it comes to reform through legislature, the executive office holds no real power. While the president can find congressmen through which he can present his legislative ideas, it is still up to congress. Congress is the only real institution that can change the nation's issues such as healthcare or education, because it is the only one of our three branches of government that can pass legislature. In the end, any president can propose changes, but congress can easily ignore these proposals. Also, even if congress makes a commitment to solving national problems, it is likely it will no be able to do so. We must remember it is not the nation which elects representatives of congress, but the state or smaller area of the state that these representatives reside in. This means pleasing these people are a congressman's top priority because it is these people who are able to elect this representative. Congressmen will not risk passing unfavorable legislation to their constituents that will cost them reelection. Any national reform is bound to conflict with the interests of the constituents of some of our congressmen, causing these congressmen to vote against the reform. On top of constituent interests, congressmen must agree on the way to go best about solving the issues on the national scale such as education or healthcare. This is heavily based on political philosophy, which can divide congress heavily among partisian lines. Our congress is also a two chamber house, both of which must agree to pass an identical bill. When these three factors are combined, it makes it extremely rare for congress to pass legislation to solve broad issues.
A look at history might help. Ever since Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency, the federal government has played an increasing role in our lives. There are times when national power helps the nation, and other times when more local power such as states help. It might be time for the states to regain some of their lost power, since the federal government is not capable of solving the nation's problems, at least of now. Although national legislation can help, each area has different needs. Local government should do more to help, since they are the ones who know their area and constituents best. Things can work in one area and not another, perhaps making local government more suitable for taking some national crises apart, area by area. People have also increasingly failed to look towards local government when national government fails to meet their needs, which defeats the purpose of federalism. People must not look to the national government for everything, some parts of its structure simply do not allow it to solve every problem.