When Stephanie Stoller was 90 years old, she gave her daughter an assignment that would outlive her: “You have to fix this.”
For Stoller, the longtime Blue Ash civic leader who served 44 years on City Council, including as mayor and vice mayor, government was never supposed to be a spectator sport. It was a practical way to improve people’s lives. Her daughter, retired constitutional attorney Patricia Foster, took that challenge seriously.
The result is “Just 20: How Ordinary People Can Make Our Government Work Again,” a new book that offers an unusually specific answer to a familiar American frustration. Rather than asking voters to switch political parties, become activists or wait for a charismatic leader, Foster wants them to change one expectation of the people they elect: Do the job.
The Big Idea
Foster’s argument begins with the Constitution. Congress, she writes, is meant to be the center of national lawmaking, gathering evidence, debating competing interests, negotiating and passing legislation. Instead, she argues, lawmakers have increasingly surrendered control of the legislative agenda to party leadership while presidents, agencies and courts fill the vacuum.
She explains the imbalance through football. Congress should be the quarterback, calling the plays and moving the ball. The president executes the game plan, while courts act as referees. In Foster’s telling, the quarterback has effectively walked off the field, leaving everyone else to improvise.
The book traces how this happened over decades, from the rise of the celebrity presidency and the expansion of federal agencies to the consolidation of power in House leadership. The political rewards for confrontation, media attention and permanent campaigning, Foster contends, now frequently exceed the rewards for solving problems.
But her proposed response is not another argument over which side deserves power. It is a procedural reset.
Why 20?
Every two years, voters elect all 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives. At the beginning of a new Congress, those members select a Speaker and adopt the rules governing how legislation moves. Foster sees that opening moment as a rare opportunity for rank-and-file representatives to reclaim their authority.
In a closely divided House, she argues, a bloc of just 20 members could hold enough leverage to insist on a different Speaker and rules package. Those members would not need to agree on immigration, taxes, healthcare or any other major policy. They would only need to agree that broadly supported proposals deserve a fair legislative process.
Foster points to the prolonged 2023 Speaker election, when a relatively small group of Republicans repeatedly blocked Kevin McCarthy’s election and secured concessions. For her, that standoff illustrates the power a small bloc can exercise at the organizational stage, even if its objectives differ from those she advocates.
There is an important qualification: 20 is a strategic possibility, not a guaranteed mathematical threshold. The bloc’s influence would depend on the balance of power, member participation and willingness to withhold support. Even revised House rules would not ensure that bills pass the Senate or become law.
Four Words to Remember
The heart of “Just 20” can be summarized in four verbs: Propose. Debate. Amend. Vote.
Foster wants House rules that give broadly supported bills a pathway to committee consideration, meaningful debate, relevant amendments and a recorded vote. Her central distinction is between guaranteeing consideration and guaranteeing an outcome. Representatives could still vote no. The point is that proposals should not routinely disappear before elected lawmakers can publicly decide their fate.
The book invites voters to ask congressional candidates for a pledge to support only a Speaker and rules package that provide such consideration. This is a different question from the familiar campaign-season inquiry about where a candidate stands on an issue. It asks whether that candidate will support the institution’s ability to deliberate at all.
A Blue Ash Lesson Goes National
The local roots of Foster’s argument give the book its emotional center. She describes her mother as a public servant who believed compromise was honorable and who expected government to be useful. Stoller’s example was not built on national television or partisan celebrity. It was built on the daily responsibilities of helping a community function.
That experience offers a useful counterpoint to the national political atmosphere. Residents may disagree about priorities, but they still expect safe roads, reliable services and accountable decisions. Foster asks why Americans should demand less from Congress than they expect from local government.
The book also challenges citizens to change the conversation. Instead of opening with party labels or political personalities, Foster suggests asking neighbors what problems they want solved. She encourages people to contact representatives, ask candidates about legislative procedures and make their votes contingent on a commitment to governing.a
An Idea Worth Debating
Not everyone will agree with Foster’s diagnosis or her prescription. Legislative rules involve genuine tradeoffs between open debate and the ability to advance a majority’s agenda. A small group that withholds its votes can force negotiations, but it can also prolong gridlock. And a more open House cannot, by itself, resolve the polarization and institutional obstacles elsewhere in Washington.
Still, “Just 20” makes a provocative contribution to the civic conversation by shifting attention from political personalities to the machinery of representation. It suggests that the question is not simply who wins an election, but what elected officials are permitted and expected to do afterward.
For Cincinnati readers, that question carries the legacy of a Blue Ash leader who believed ordinary people could make government better. Her daughter has turned that belief into a national proposal, one that asks voters to replace resignation with a specific demand.
The next time a candidate asks for your vote, Foster would have you ask a question in return: Will you help Congress do its job?
– Jackie Reau
