Do you know why federal senators serve six-year terms while representatives from the House serve only two?
House representation is based upon population and, because representatives’ terms are shorter, they are closer to what the voters are thinking and feeling. Understanding and listening to public opinion is vital to the success of our representative democracy.
Senators were originally elected by state legislatures, until the 17th Amendment was passed in 1913 allowing election by popular vote. The two senators from each state have six-year terms to separate them from their constituents – to give them long-term thinking. Since they have six years to be re-elected, senators are not as concerned about popular opinion. They are supposed to deliberate on issues rather than reflect the mood of the public.
This tension between short-term and long-term thinking in Congress was meant to create a balance between forces that all of us deal with every day of our lives. Do we think only for the moment, or do we plan for the future? As I tell my civics and government students, that depends.
Depends on what? It depends on the circumstances of each situation and, for us humans, it is one of the most difficult things we have to do in order to navigate the endless decisions we face each day.
When I was in my teens and 20s, I was impatient and impulsive. As a result, I made decisions in a hurry, not thinking of the potential consequences. After I made a number of major errors, saying things that popped into my head, for instance, I came to the realization that my impulsivity was getting me in trouble.
I found that if I slowed down and thought things through and did some research, my decisions turned out to be better, especially if I weighed opposing extremes to decide where the best mid-point lay. As some self-help book advised, I learned to “hit the pause button” before making decisions. Over time, that approach allowed me to make better and longer-ranged plans than I had when I lived in the moment.
When the founders met in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787 to write the Constitution, many had studied the governments of ancient Greece and Rome and the heritage of parliamentary democracy from the British. They had also studied what worked and what didn’t in colonial and state governments during the 180 years between the first permanent English colony in Jamestown in 1607 and that hot Philadelphia summer in 1787.
That’s why they had the wisdom to create a Congress that balanced the importance of short-term thinking in the House with the long-term thinking of the Senate.
We can learn from those men whom Jefferson in awe called “demi-gods” who created the Constitution. We can learn how to weigh the needs of the moment with the longer-termed realities of the future. Only when we develop the ability to live in the tension between those two extremes, as our founders envisioned for our Constitution, will we be able to live balanced and fulfilling lives.
