As you know, I'm a Freemason.  We have a rule in the Fraternity that no Grand Lodge sitting in annual convocation can bind future Grand Lodges to do anything that isn't already covered in our Code (constitution, bylaws, and general regulations).  So when we implement, say, a five-year study program to determine whether to make a wide-ranging constitutional or bylaws change, that five-year program can be killed the very next year by a simple majority vote against continuing it.  As a result, it is very difficult for us to construct workable multi-year programs -- particularly ones that involve spending money -- because of the no-binding rule.

Along these lines, I have long wondered how a sitting Congress can commit future Congresses to do its will.  The answer, of course, is that it can't.  Anything that affects spending, revenues, or the debt past the next election is little more than self-serving pandering, because the fact is, a sitting Congress's authority dies at the end of its two years -- and all bets are then off.

If the general public ever wakes up and realizes that a massive Congressional 10-year spending cuts package is actually merely a 1 or 2 year package of minimal cuts coupled with 8 to 9 years of baseless lies and prevarications, then maybe they'll start throwing the lying bastards out.  But I'm not sanguine about the prospects of that.