Max Cleland: “James Lindsay of the Brookings Institution, I think, well summed up where we in Congress are today in this great debate…”

“James Lindsay of the Brookings Institution, I think, well summed up where we in Congress are today in this great debate on America's proper role in the world in the Winter 2000 Brookings Review, where he wrote: Much like friends who agree to dine but can't agree on a restaurant, foreign policy elites agree that the United States should do something, just not what. Congress naturally reflects this dissensus, which makes it difficult for the institution to function. Divided by chamber, party, ideology, region, committee, and generation, Congress lists toward paralysis whenever a modicum of agreement and a sense of proportion are absent. In a nutshell, attempting to overcome this 'dissensus' and 'paralysis' is what Senator Roberts and I are trying to do in these dialogs.”