And the Semester Ends

Inherent limitations of Congress:

• Except in simulation, legislation is usually slow. (And swift action is not necessarily smart action.)
• In a body resting on geographic representation, parochialism is inevitable. (And it is often legitimate.) See Davidson 456-457.
• A multi-member, bicameral institution will have a hard time planning. (And planning is overrated.)

Ethics

Public perception 

Actually, Congress used to be much more corrupt

Checks and balances

JFK on the complexity of courage:

• The pressure to "go along" -- but we "should not be too hasty in condemning all compromise as bad morals."
• The pressure to seek reelection -- but lawmakers "who go down to defeat in a vain defense of a single principle will not be on hand to fight for that or any other principle in the future."
• The pressure to serve interest groups -- but "they are the articulate few whose views cannot be ignored and who constitute the greater part of our contacts with the public at large, whose opinions we cannot know..."