Cover; Contents; 1 Why We Need to Restore Powerto Congress; The Intent of the Founders; Ceding Responsibilities to the President; Why Does Congress Want to Give up Power?; What It Means When You Take That Oath of Office; 2 A Stronger Voice; Congress Should Do More than Tinker with the Budget; The Decision to Go to War; Initiating Policy; Understanding Congress; 3 Strengthening Congressional Oversight; Broken Oversight; Every Administration Needs Oversight; Oversight Needs to Be Systematic; 4 Restoring the Deliberative Process; Why Congress Needs the Deliberative Process; Omnibus Bills Congressional Debates Need Facts, Not SpinWhy Congress Isn't Efficient, and Shouldn't Be; Congress Should Not Be Just about Winning; To Govern Well, Return to the Basics; 5 Reducing Excessive Partisanship; Congress Depends on Civility; Why Is Congress So Partisan?; Why Holding the Majority Matters; How Do We Reduce Partisanship?; 6 Strengthening Ethics Enforcement; Congress Needs to Invigorate ItsEthics System, Not Weaken It; Why Ethics Should Matter to Congress; Getting Outside Help; 7 Curbing the Influence of Lobbyists; We Pay a Price for Special-Interest Lobbying Lobbying Murkiness Undermines Our Trust in CongressTrue Lobbying Reform; In the End, Responsibility Lies with Politicians and the Voters; 8 Strengthening Citizen Participation; Are the People Prepared?; First, We Need an Informed Citizenry; We Also Need a Citizenry That Looks for Candidates Who Respect Congress; Why Political Virtue Matters; The Ten Commandments of Good Citizenship; 9 A Well-Functioning Congress; It Will Search for Remedy; It Will Look Ahead; It Will Help to Set the Agenda; It Will Give Voice to a Diverse People; It Will Forge Consensus; It Will Exercise Judgment It Will Be Led ResponsiblyIt Will Engage in Genuine Consultation; It Will Seek the Common Good; Appendix 1: How to Judge Congress; Appendix 2: Analyzing Congressional Arguments; Appendix 3: Twelve Ways to Contact Your Member of Congress; Appendix 4: Making Your Case Effectively: Some Do's and Don'ts; Notes; index | 
