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Host Edwin Newman discusses a recent poll of former Congressmen revealing negative attitudes about the effectiveness, discipline, and ethics of Congress as a whole, and doubts about the institution's ability to improve. Newman asks U.S. House Representative Dick Cheney (R-WY) if that is also the view of current Congressman as well. Rep. Cheney says he has experienced frustration serving in Congress from time to time, but overall he does not share a pessimistic view of Congress, and perhaps those views from former Congressmen are biased given they were defeated, otherwise, they'd still be serving. U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers (R-AR) says there are vested interests in maintaining the status quo of the Senate rather than increasing efficiency. He thinks improvements can be made to both chambers of Congress, but it doesn't help when members of Congress denigrate the very institution itself and the media plays along. Rep. Cheney says there's a conflict between capturing the true representative nature of the American landscape and efficiency, and people need to realize there are trade-offs. Congress needs to be changed in order for it to be more efficient, but as it stands, Congress represents the true fabric of the nation. Thomas Mann of the American Political Science Association believes people romanticize a past Congress that was efficient and leaders kept their members in line, running the institution smoothly. In reality, there were no real "good old days" in Congress, and there have always been problems in the functioning of Congress. Modern day Congress is messy, under strain, and decentralized, but there are some advantages. Legislation faces fewer roadblocks through Congress, as an example.