(Photo: Courtesy of the CBC)

Our Director of News, Deborah Creighton Skinner sent me an article recently that caused me to take a second look.  The headline which read: “The Late Great Congressional Black Caucus” was alarming enough to get my attention.

For the past few months, I’ve been conducting intimate, sit-down interviews with members of the Congressional Black Caucus for an upcoming BET.com feature called, “Congressional Confidential,”  and it has given me an acute awareness of the CBC’s value and the role its members have played in raising the temperature of an often tepid body of lawmakers.

For this reason, the prospect of seeing a possible end to the CBC was disturbing to me so I read further.  The article is actually a commentary about the potential inclusion of three Black Republicans to the CBC’s membership ranks.  The article asserts that should the CBC include the viewpoints of right-wing conservatives, somehow its purpose is diminished and it’s standing as the “conscience of the Congress” is jeopardized.

My question is, how can the CBC be weakened if the overwhelmingly progressive, liberal body includes more diversity in its membership?  African-Americans are not monolithic. Although a vast majority of Blacks align with the Democratic Party, a sizable segment has found a home with the GOP.  The inclusion of Republicans within the CBC would not only be more reflective of a group of people it prides its self in representing, it would also be strengthened in the process.

The fear of an opposing viewpoint is just pointless.  If “progress” is truly the root of the progressive movement, then there is no need to be afraid of ideological stances that don’t exactly sing from the same songbook. To alienate Republican members of Congress is miss out on an opportunity to expand, and to influence others.  So when it comes, to embracing Republicans within the CBC, I say, the more the merrier.

(Photo: EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS /LANDOV)

Did it really take a poll to confirm what we who follow the news and talk to real people already know? According to a new CBS News/New York Times survey, three in four people believe the current Supreme Court justices let their personal opinions affect their decisions and even fewer said the justices decide cases based on legal analysis alone.

Opinions about Congress were just as strong with just 15 percent of respondents approving of the job Congress is doing. And if you think those numbers are bleak, know that they are actually an improvement from February’s results which found that just 10 percent of people approved of Congress’ performance.

It feels as if people are growing increasingly dissatisfied with the way that Washington is conducting business. From the debt ceiling debacle to assaults on affirmative action, it appears that a general sense of displeasure is growing among the electorate. People are struggling to take care of their families and a consensus is materializing that it places more and more of the blame on our political leaders.

Partisanship is a lethal weapon nowadays and compromise is seemingly viewed as an expletive. All of the bickering, and wrangling have become so enmeshed in the fabric of politics that people are reaching their breaking point. So while it’s interesting to see a survey about the pulse of the people, what we really need is a culture shift in Washington. That’s the study I’m ready to see.