Good is bad…and bad is good?

Tish Durkin makes an interesting case in The Week in defense of backroom deals. Durkin points to the fact that there was a time in our history when it was acceptable for legislators to attend parties thrown by lobbyists where congressmen and women from both sides of the aisle would have cocktails and conversation (possibly due to the cocktails) with each other. Durkin also argues that in the past when politicians went on foreign junkets they probably did not spend every minute of trip doing the work of the people. But they at least had the opportunity to get to know each other.

Durkin acknowledges that the perks afforded to members of Congress have been blatantly abused. The push to regulate such old-style political abuse was well intentioned. The consequences have had interesting unintended consequences.

Basically when it comes to Congress – it seems that if you let them do a little bad for themselves every once in a while they’ll do some good for everyone. Maybe if we moved the U.S. Capitol somewhere tropical and provide an open bar on the Chamber floor, Congress could get a little more of the nation’s business done.