JACK MCIVER WEATHERFORD. Tribes on the Hill: The U.S. Congress Rituals and Realities, Revised Edition. New York: Bergin & Garvey, 1985. 316 pages. $32.95.
An apparent paradox of Congress intrigued Weatherford: they “seemed trapped in some weird plane of mythological time where endless rituals were repeated with great effort, attention, and energy; yet, little was being accomplished.” (pp. xii)
Weatherford initially planned to do a comparative study of the U.S. Congress to the legislative bodies of various modern nations. Then he realized that the more apt comparison was to tribal cultures. As an anthropologist, Weatherford was particularly suited to this task, which he “approached in much the same way that an anthropologist might approach any tribe in the world. [He] worked and lived with the natives, learned to speak their language, eat their food, wear their clothes, and go through their rituals.” (pp. xii)
As far-fetched as it may seem to compare the “august” U.S. Congress to what we perceive as “outlandish” or “primitive” societies, the parallels drawn by Weatherford lend themselves to explaining the culture of Congress, at least up until 1980, with clarity. With that in mind, the reader should be prepared for comparisons that may seem surprising at first.
The dynamic between the East African Watutsi and Hutu tribes are paralleled to the relationship between Congress and bureaucracy. Senators (and their leadership styles) are depicted as warlords, shaman, or godfathers. The unshakable belief in ghosts common to the Trukese people of the South Pacific is compared to the belief that lobbies are the root of all government evil. If the reader is inclined to agree on the latter point regarding lobbies, it’s not long before Weatherford uses that skepticism precisely to show how certain beliefs – well-founded or not –underlie our own culture. He even makes a reasonable argument that, “rather than outside forces acting on the Congress, [lobbies] are the very creations of Congress, designed as channels of politics.” (pp.133)
While comparisons may reach to diverse cultures, the common theme throughout Tribes on the Hill is that congressional politics are clan politics. Political aristocracy like the Taft family of Ohio, the Roosevelt family of New York, and the Kennedy family of Massachusetts are compared to the royal houses of Europe, China, and Iroquois. Like other royal families, those of Congress form alliances of loyal “clansmen” to build a power-base from which to garner ever more power.
Weatherford concludes with “only the Congress can save itself from itself,” along with a few words about the great potential of Americans to use the vast body of knowledge about the follies of other civilizations to prevent our own ruin. Fortunately (unfortunately), the same words are still applicable.
Weatherford is largely successful in his overall goal to leave the reader with a better understanding of both Congress and anthropology, which he uses to help the reader see Congress as an entity just as strange, exotic, and worthy of analysis as any less familiar society. His anthropologist’s look into the U.S. Congress is as fascinating today as it was over 25 years ago when it was first published, though there is room for more discussion about the last quarter century.
Among other things, Weatherford could comment on: the changes to procedural rules in Congress with Newt Gingrich’s 1994 Contract with America (the most egregious of which were recently restored by Speaker Pelosi (2007) in the interest of maintaining minority party rights); the slash-and-burn style back-benchers rising to leadership positions through hyper-partisanship electoral strategies; or the emerging democratizing power of the internet.
For any given topic of interest, here it is the U.S. Congress, one work is seldom comprehensive. Weatherford does not pretend to give a panoptic depiction of Congress, but instead offers his expertise as an anthropologist attuned to looking at groups as cultures. It should be valued for what it is – one piece of the larger picture.
For the politically engaged reader, or just someone who wants a different (and more current) kind of “how things work” perspective of the U.S. political system, try David Sirota’s Hostile Takeover: How Big Money and Corruption Conquered Our Government–and How We Take It Back (New York: Crown Publishers, 2006).
In the revised edition of Tribes on the Hill, a reprint of the 1981 version, readers will enjoy a new preface by the author. Dr. Weatherford is a professor in the Department of Anthropology at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Recent publications include Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World (New York: Crown Publishers, 2004) and The History of Money (New York: Crown Publishers, 1997).
Teachers College, Columbia University MAGGIE MOON
