“We hope that our elected leaders are better than we are,” said Jeff Bergner during Monday’s Batten Hour. “We elect these people because we think they are smarter, better educated, have more money and more connections and are perhaps more virtuous than us. But has this ever been true?”

When the founding fathers conceived the legislative branch, they believed it would be the strongest branch of government. But this seems less apparent today amidst constant political upheaval and gridlock as the recent government shutdown would suggest.

In his new book, “The Vanishing Congress: Reflections on Politics in Washington,” Bergner explores the history of the legislative branch and offers insight into the madness of the legislative process—from when bills are passed to when bills become laws to when nothing seems to get done.

Bergner, who currently leads the Batten School capstone course “Fixing a Dysfunctional Congress,” is no stranger to the legislative process having worked as the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs among numerous other appointments. With a Ph.D. in political philosophy, he brings a unique perspective to the history and current state of the U.S. Congress and what Robert Kagan wrote in his forward for Bergner’s book, “[he is] a Senate Socrates.”

It is with that knowledge and insight—not to mention a surfeit of experiences from his years working in Washington—that Bergner has delivered a book that offers an in-depth look at the U.S. Congress, which takes the reader behind the scenes to show how it really works. Bergner contends that many of the proposals to reform Congress are largely extraneous and offers several steps to restore Congress to the legislative body that the framers of the Constitution envisioned.

“I began every chapter with a personal story,” said Bergner. “It was my wife who said I should write a book based on these stories, but it later occurred to me that these stories would serve as a segue into deeper issues, which is how I laid out the book.”

Bergner references his own confirmation process and how he used a personal story to address the processes and procedures of a Congressional confirmation and what might be improved or done differently.

Batten professor Gerry Warburg, a former colleague of Bergner’s, said of the new book, “Jeff Bergner brings authority and civility to his analysis of what ails Congress. We have been friends and colleagues for 40 years and have found we agree on more than we disagree. His focus on the potential for Congress to live up to its Constitutional duties is critical to success on many national challenges.”

When Warburg and Bergner worked in the Senate, there was more overlap, which Bergner bemoans does not exist today.

“There are two groups who are sunk so deeply in their views,” said Bergner. “We as a nation are deeply divided in our philosophical views and our notions of governance. When Gerry and I worked in the Senate, there were Republicans who were liberal on issues and Democrats that were conservative on other issues. That does not exist today which makes it very hard to find a common ground.”

In the absence of common ground, Bergner believes that procedures and the processes must change, which he emphasizes throughout his book. He is convinced that Washington is still a great place to work and that young people should not be deterred but instead galvanized to work on the Hill.

“If you’re young and have no overhead responsibilities—family, mortgage, dog—then the Hill can be an exciting place. If you’re talented and smart, you can move quickly through the ranks and find yourself at age 27 managing a sub-committee. This is less true of the executive branch or the civil service.”