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> I compare them to Roberts Rules of Order, Revised, which are straightforward enough that most people can grasp them with a reading or two.

Then why don't the House and Senate change their rules to something more like Robert's Rules of Order? All it takes is a majority vote of each house.

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The straightforward answer is because they like their current rules more than Robert's rules. I'd imagine literally every rule was voted on by the body in question, so they are all things that people supported.

If you want to get really cynical, the major parties are complex coalitions of interest groups. It is really convenient for the power brokers to have arcane rules because issues can be delayed and the waters muddied around which politicians support what. Doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be weird enough that the average voter gets confused about whats and whys of procedural details.

Because the rules of the chambers are not designed to be neutral, they're designed to advance the goals of whoever has written them. In the House, it's leadership. In the Senate, it's to protect the powers of each individual senator.

The House Rules change every 2 years. In the Senate, changing the rules takes 2/3s, and that basically never happens.

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