AN ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATION OF WHY THERE IS SO LITTLE COLLEGIALITY IN CONGRESS..

AN ALTERNATIVE EXPLANATION FOR WHY THERE IS SO LITTLE COLLEGIALITY IN CONGRESS. The lack of bipartisanship and collegiality in the Congress has been much noted. Gerrymandering to produce safe seats has something to do with it. Here is one alternative explanation. I was talking with a knowledgeable friend this weekend, and he quoted a Congressman who mentioned one of the other factors that should enter into an explanation. The Congressman said that he doesn’t know a lot of his colleagues very well, and one reason is that he spends only Tuesday through Thursday in Washington, and the rest of his time back home in his district. Back in Harry Truman’s day, Truman and many of his colleagues could not take the long train road home very often, so they spent lots of evenings together.