So far, this course has focused on formal institutions and how choosing one set of rules or another can influence social choices. We have seen that the same group of people, with the same preferences, can be induced to make different decisions simply by manipulating the rules which govern how decisions are made. In contrast, we have paid somewhat less attention to the people (and their preferences) who make choices within the constraints imposed by a particular set of institutions.
That will now begin to change.
Institutions structure social choices, but people animate institutions. To understand politics--the process of making binding social choices--we need to go beyond the study of institutions in a vacuum and take some time to understand the motives and interests of people in political situations.
So, to get us started in this new direction, we are going to begin our discussion of Congress somewhat differently. Instead of talking about the formal institutions that govern Congress, we will start out talking about the people who serve in Congress and how they got there. Our goal will be to try to find some insight about the way that Congress works (what institutions or rules it has and what outcomes they produce) by thinking about what motivates the people who choose those institutions and live under them.
With that in mind, I want you to read this article from Money magazine. It's a profile of a man running for Congress that focuses on the difficult personal financial challenges facing him and his family as a result of his campaign. As you read, I'd like you to think about the prospect of running for Congress. Does it seem easy or hard? What are the costs and benefits of running for Congress? What kind of person would take up this particular task? And, given your thoughts on these issues, how would you expect an institution populated by this sort of people to behave?
