The 'Yes' or 'No' Trick in Congressional Hearings

Let's be candid and fair here. Both sides of the aisle in congressional hearings engage in this practice. They pose what they term "a simple yes or no question." However, when you actually listen to these questions, you'll often find that they are not straightforward yes or no questions at all. Instead, they are meticulously crafted to establish a foundational claim that the questioner wants the respondent to confirm or deny. Their goal is a "gotcha" moment, and these questions are specifically designed for that purpose.

The reality is that no one asking the questions are genuinely interested in the answers. Rather, they use their five minutes as an opportunity to deliver a narrative that supports their preconceived conclusions. When the person being questioned attempts to clarify the details or explain their actual position beyond the confines of the question, the questioner can conveniently dismiss them by saying, "I guess you don't want to answer the question, let's move on." 

The reality is that most questions almost always require more than just a simple yes or no, especially depending on how they are framed—and let's be real here, politicians are as masterful at asking questions that lay traps as they are at answering questions with non-answers.

It's a trick for the cameras and a way for the questioner to commentate rather than to actually learn what the respondent actually believes.

I will admit, as a political junkie, it can be entertaining to watch. At the same time, it can also be a bit frustrating because, we all want to hear the answers to real questions regardless of what aisle we happen to be sitting on.

The purpose of asking questions, by their very nature, are not to hear the views of the person asking the questions, but rather to understand the views of the respondent. When we get gotcha questions such as are posed in these hearings, what we get instead is a one-sided view and before anyone can even attempt to answer, they're more often than not simply cut off.

Of course, the time limits are part of the problem. These senators and representatives want to get as much "information" out as they can and if they allow questions to actually be answered, they'd run out of time before they can say all they want to say.

Maybe we should change the rules. Limit the time for the questioners but stop the clock on their time for the answers and allow a separate time limit for the answering part of the back and forth. If we did that, perhaps these congressional hearings would actually serve the public better than they do.

When we don't get real answers, but instead only receive commentary, we, as voters, have a much more difficult time getting the answers we actually want to hear. It makes the whole thing seem like nothing more than a show.

More than that, wouldn't it be better for the respondent to decide whether the question is a yes or no one? After all, it's their answer. If it were as simple as a yes or no, I am sure that's how the question would actually be answered.

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© 2025 Jim Bauer

Is America Slowly Becoming Lost?

It is unfortunate that it has to be said, but it just seems like our political environment right now is just in a shambles. And it's not just a left or right thing. It's the entire thing. From a completely dysfunctional administration in the Biden/Harris presidency, from democrats who deny all things real and a media that supports false narratives and fails to report the news accurately, or even with honesty or integrity.

From the upper leadership on the republican side such as Mitch McConnell having frozen in front of the camera several times, clearly too old to continue to serve the American people nor the party effectively, from guys like Fetterman wearing jump suits to work.

From a complete landscape of old and tired people like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi not offering anything new to the American public, simply vying for power and support from within, to an entire landscape of political rivalry unlike anything we have seen before.

Even when it comes to voters, is anyone being honest anymore? Does anyone really care about the health of the nation and the direction we go? Is our vote about doing what's right or simply winning? And how much is anyone really paying attention to what's really going on? How many of us really care? 

And now, of course, we have the ouster of Speaker McCarthy further exacerbating at least the appearance of dysfunction.

Look, at the end of the day we have to get back to the old understanding that there has to be compromise. That we all can't have things completely our way and that for the common good we have to be able to at least find common ground and have the ability to accept that we can only ultimately meet somewhere in the middle.

Even looking back at Biden's first day in office, why could he not have taken some time to carefully examine what went right about Trump's policies and keep the ones that worked in effect? For the good of the people? Instead, he simply dismissed everything, wiped the slate clean and here we are now feeling the awful pains of that terrible decision.

Trump actually did examine some of Obama's policies, and he kept many of them in place while rearranging or only slightly altering others—but of course he removed things that clearly were not working.

Many presidents in the past have done it this way as well, including Obama.

Beyond all of this there's just no accountability. There are no checks and balances. We have a media absent from letting us know what's really going on and truly wanting to dig deep into the issues we all face.

The media is doing nothing to advance the peace or prosperity of the people of the country. Or to advance anyone's understanding of what's right or wrong or why. It's not giving anyone the ability to think outside of their own biases and actually formulate working, sensible opinions on where we are and where we need to go, and who is responsible for advancing our cause or setting it back.

In an odd way it may be part of where Trump's appeal stems from—from all sides by the way—despite outward appearances we are led to believe. And that's that while all of the establishment is fighting a miserable battle, trying to win that thing, this thing, or the other thing, he's simply reaching out to the American people from the outside looking in and letting us know it's a disaster and telling us why.

We need change. And we need it badly. Not only from our elected officials, but from the American people as well. And from the media. We need to get back to that United We Stand, Divided We Fall culture that once permeated the collective American psyche.

We need to be able to recognize the pitfalls of all of this dysfunction and honestly call it out for what it is, rather than simply take political sides through all of it just because. 

How many times have we heard so many people complain, "The two-party system is broken," only to fall heavily to one side or the other, and then defend their side even when they are clearly wrong? Sure, I am a conservative republican. But not to sound like a broken record, I am an American first and foremost above all other things.

Do I side with my side more often than the other side? Yes. Is it because of bias? I'd like to believe it is not. I'd like to believe that I simply have the ability to be honest about what either side is doing and make a judgement based on how I feel about it rather than how I think I should feel about it.

The problem we face, and I have repeated this several times, is that unless we recognize the dysfunction and begin the process of weeding out our bad apples, from both sides, we may not ever be able to get back to any sense of normal. We may not be able to save ourselves from the disaster we are ultimately creating, fostering, or allowing to continue.

Was ousting McCarthy the right decision? Maybe. Maybe not. Should Pelosi have faced stark criticism and disdain from her own party all the while she was Speaker and mucking up the place? Maybe. Should older elected officials like Feinstein (before she passed away) or Mitch McConnell pass their batons on let fresh voices in? Probably.

Should the American people demand it? 

The question really becomes, "Who is now in Congress that actually belongs there? Who is now in Congress who is actually doing the work of the People?"

It would be an extremely short list on both sides. And if the American people were paying attention, and perhaps even if the media were doing their jobs, we'd have already cleaned house. It goes back to what I said earlier about the complaint of the two-party system. That we allow the two-party system to decide for us who to vote for instead of making those decisions on our own, based on our own personal analysis of who's running on whatever side.

It's the argument that we need term limits.

Something I tend to agree with now. But what have I have always said is that no one remains in office who is not elected by the people to remain in office. So, we can argue all day long that too many people stay too long, but at the same time we the people continue to return them to their offices election after election after election.

We're in a shambles because few people care and the people "in charge" know it. We're in a shambles because no one who holds any office right now feels any threat that they may not be able to return if they get things wrong. We're in a shambles because almost everyone in Congress is out of touch with the needs of the American people. We're in a shambles because not a single elected official understands how their policies actually affect the average citizen. And because not a single policy affects them. We're in a shambles because like most Americans, the media has picked a side. We're in a shambles because no one bothers to listen anymore, or to deeply think about all of the unintended consequences of what is essentially a feel-good idea that looks good on paper, or is comforting to certain, select ears.

That being said, in all honesty, does that leave us much hope for 2024? I am not sure. Sure, I side with Trump. But even in that camp would I prefer a better alternative? Absolutely. And not for the reasons you may think.

It's the distraction that is the problem. And regardless of whether Biden is reelected or Trump returns to the White House, I think that distraction remains.

But beyond that, there is no real alternative on either side either. Right now we are literally caught between a rock and a hard place. Our only hope is that we are getting to a point where people begin to realize the dire state that we are in and begin to operate in a way that allows us to turn it around.

But again, I also think there comes a critical point at which we will no longer have the ability to do it.

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We Do Have Term Limits in the USA

Term limits. It's a thing I think most Americans would say they are for. No one really thinks we should necessarily have career politicians in our Congressional ranks. Certainly any one person having too much power is something that we all have great concern about—it's why we limit the number of terms a person can serve as president.

We don't want dictators. We want leaders.

Of course there's a lot more chatter these days about term limits. The whole third party movement thing is helping to fuel this. The fact that so many democrats are simply not listening to the American people is helping to fuel this. And while we're at it, let me just make myself clear that I am not suggesting that the vast majority of republicans necessarily have it right either. Their ears are slammed shut in many ways as well.

We're tired of the status quo. That much is clear. But here's my thing. We don't need Congress to come up with a bill that establishes term limits. This doesn't have to be a law. Because we already have term limits in the USA. It's called our vote.

Look, the fact is we have to hold our elected officials responsible for their actions, or their inactions for that matter. We cannot simply keep on voting these fools back in and then complain they've been there too long. If we don't like what these guys are doing, we send them home. We put in new faces. We change the landscape.

Part of the reason most of these guys don't deliver on their campaign promises, and part of the reason they albeit shut out the voice of the American people is because they have no fear of reprisal. They don't feel that the American people are going to kick them out of their offices.

If we're not satisfied with what our elected officials are doing, rather than complain about it, I say we just vote them out. Two years. One shot. You get it right or you're out. That's your term limit. The American people will decide.

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THREATENING OUR ELECTED LEADERS SOLVES NOTHING

The American people are angry. After all the polls clearly indicated that the majority of the American people did not want this health care reform bill that ultimately was passed, it passed anyway. The president and the democrats in the Congress went forward clearly knowing that at least 52% of the population opposed the bill.

But is it appropriate to direct that anger at our elected leaders through death threats? Through violence? Should we decide that beating down our elected leaders is the answer? Of course not. We've got to get it together. We need to direct our anger appropriately and effectively. This kind of reaction will only make us look like crybaby buffoons.

Look, we said it when Bush was determined to be our president after all the debacle over chads and whatever else—it is what it is. So let's move on and get on with the business of the people and stop bickering about what is. We need to take our own advice. The deal is done, it stinks to high heaven, we all know that all too well, but here is where are, and now what we need to do is to focus on what we do next to appropriately and effectively make things better tomorrow.

The fact is that whatever we think about our current elected leaders, ultimately I think it is an absolutely fair statement to say that our system of government works. The Congress and the President of the United States got this one terribly wrong. Of that there is no debating. This big fucking deal, as the vice presdent so eloquently put it, is going to cost us far more than just an arm and a leg to be sure. We're in for one hell of a debt dealing ride that could make a swingset do loop the loops like a roller coaster. The dems clearly did this vote with their fingers crammed deep in their ears.

We cannot fairly measure our system of government based on this one bill, even if it's a big one. Even if it's a disastrous one. Literally sending our elected leaders to the guillotine may sound enticing, but...

We can vote. That's what we can do. And we'll have just such an opportunity coming around this November to send a loud and clear message that the American people are not happy with what's gone down. This is our proper discourse. Waving fists, raising bats, or sending idle threats against our elected officials when things don't go our way is not the answer. It's frustrating. At times it can be downright maddening. But to strongarm the process? Even if they did it?

How can we expect our elected officials to make the right choices and vote accordingly if they have to do so in fear? Fear only serves to taint and corrupt the system even further. Let our politicians fear their jobs when they get it wrong or ignore the people. Not their lives.

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