About two months ago I published an article on the American Congress approval rating which was hovering around 11% and seemed to have been steadily declining. However, now that America has elected some new members to congress I would like to take a look on how has this number has changed. Not surprisingly the number has not changed by much: Congress went from an 11% approval rating to a 19% approval rating. Where as before about 1 in 10 people would say they approve of congress, that number has slowly climbed to almost 2 out of 10. Although this is a positive change, I expect the number to not only sink back down as time goes on, but I predict that number could fall well below the 11% rating we saw near the end of 2016.

I have several key theories on why that number would sink: first and most importantly, being the fact that congress is trying to overturn the affordable care act. If congress were to repeal Obamacare, then 9.9 million people will be without health insurance. Taking that into account, 9.9 million people would have a great disdain for anyone in Congress that supported the repealing of Obamacare. This is quite likely since both president Donald Trump and many of the high profile Republican Senators have voiced their support in dismantling Obamacare. The odd part of this scenario is that this would actually infuriate the Democratic and Republican base alike. While the Republican leadership hates and wishes to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Republican base actually likes it. Many are enrolled in Obamacare and repealing it without an immediate replacement would make the Republican leaders alienated from their base and hence lose a great deal of support. On the bright side if this were to happen, we could see a lot of big name senators out of Office for the first time, which would be a pleasant change of pace.

Theory number 2: the-out-of-touch Congress will ignore the problems of the everyday American people to serve their donors, causing numbers to drop. While this theory is very broad it does not make the statement less true. Congress has long served the richest donors which are responsible for getting them elected and been known to ignore the common citizen's plight. Flint, Michigan being a good example, unable still to this day to get clean drinking water, yet next week congress will be voting on some obscure laws in either finance or repealing business regulations so other companies can take advantage of those without power. We all know the hunger long time standing republican senators and house members have for regulation. Being on their key talking points on how to jump start the economy. "Lets repeal what keeps everyone safe so a few can benefit" might as well be the statement. Of course they are no so daft to say that right out, so they use coded language to assure everyone these restrictions are only a burden and serve no actual purpose of safety. Another example would be lowering the minimum wage, which would in turn lower wages across the board, not to mention the fact that it would increase poverty levels in America which is already at 13.5% in 2015. Again this would infuriate both the Republican and Democratic base which would lead to massive drop in congress's approval rating.

How can we stop this? Sadly as of now the choices have been made and their isn't much the standard citizen can do, until the next election cycle of course. The best thing to do is watch and understand the mistake each state has made and whom they may have elected. Many people believe that congress is awful but constantly re-elect their states' Senators over and over again. Seriously, even Ted Cruz and Mitch Mcconnell got re-elected again. Voting for these halfwit politicians has to stop, we must hold these Senators and house representatives to a standard and if they break that standard we have to keep them out of office and enforce a standard of behavior which does not condone those who abuse the system. We must rid Congress of these king of politicians the next time they are up for re-election by electing grass root candidates who come with an agenda, not a fundraising scheme. The problems with the senate and house will not be solved over night. This will take many years of weeding out those will ill intent, but it is for the future of our nation that we take this matter to be imperative to the survival of a true democracy.