America Needs Congressional Partisans
Today’s Congress has become perhaps the least respected institution in America. This decline is not because Democrats and Republicans need to change their political ideologies but because they need to demand that their representative body exercise real power. Voters ought to see themselves as partisans for the branch most representative of them—their Congress. Until then, future presidents and courts appointed by both parties will continue to expand their power—at the people’s expense.
Just two months into Trump’s second term, some experts in the media are already warning of a constitutional crisis. Three months ago, President Biden’s unilateral declaration of a new constitutional amendment—which many viewed as a constitutional overreach—barely made headlines. Never mind that throughout Trump’s first term and so far in his second, his administration has never outright defied a court order. These newfound defenders of the Constitution claim, with some merit, that the real crisis stems from the White House’s restructuring of agencies like USAID and NIH, Trump’s criticism of judges as “activists,” and Trump’s and Vice President Vance’s suggestion that the executive branch may not always be bound by judicial decisions. Yet these concerns misdiagnose the source of our constitutional issues.
This looming crisis does not primarily stem from executive or judicial overreach. Instead of Republicans reflexively defending the executive and Democrats defending the judiciary, partisans of both sides should be concerned about the legislative branch and the abandonment of its institutional prerogatives. While the immediate cause of a constitutional crisis may be a showdown between the executive and judicial branches, the deeper cause is the power vacuum left by Congress—the true and pervasive source of the nation’s constitutional problems.
James Madison’s well-known line from Federalist No. 51, “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition,” is often quoted without its crucial follow-up: “The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place.” Congress surely has ambitious members, but their ambition is not of the kind Madison envisioned. Today, most members of Congress—whether in the House or the Senate—are ambitious only in the pursuit of maintaining their status as B-list celebrities, seeking viral YouTube clips in committee hearings, cable news appearances, and social media engagement. To the extent that Congressmen are interested in doing their jobs, they are interested in securing their own seats and partisan majorities, rather than exercising the constitutional power of the legislative branch itself relative to other branches. Madison envisioned a functioning Congress where members would primarily tie their ambition to the constitutional power of their institution—not to narrow party interests.
“Today, modern presidents increasingly rule by executive order, echoing the very monarchical tendencies that the Anglo-American tradition rejected.”
Congress was designed to jealously guard its powers from encroachment by the executive and judiciary. Due to its failure to do so, the institution has become hollow, and its members have become performative commentators rather than lawmakers. Over time, presidents of both parties have naturally expanded their power, filling the void left by a passive legislature. In fact, the increasing assertiveness of both Biden and Trump in testing the limits of their authority is, paradoxically, a healthier sign for the ambition of their own branch than an enfeebled Congress that refuses to wield its own constitutional powers and balance that of the executive.
Americans who are unhappy with today’s politics should be primarily focused on fixing Congress. Article I of the Constitution makes Congress the most representative branch of government—far more than the executive or judiciary. The people’s direct influence is best exercised through Congress, which was designed to deliberate, negotiate, and legislate on their behalf. If anything, the Founders expected that in “republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates,” as Hamilton wrote in Federalist No. 51.
The demand for an assertive legislature is as American as apple pie. The American Revolution was fought primarily over the colonies’ lack of legislative power. “Taxation Without Representation” was not so much an accusation against a foreign British power—most colonists descended from English settlers—but against their lack of representation in the British parliament. Colonists inherited the Whig insistence on a parliament that held in check the executive power. Yet today, modern presidents increasingly rule by executive order, echoing the very monarchical tendencies that the Anglo-American tradition rejected.
After the revolutionary war, the Founders did not fear that the greatest threat to liberty would come from a new king, but from majority tyranny emanating from Congress. Madison warned that Congress could draw “all power into its impetuous vortex” of popular passion. Rather than being the majoritarian threat they envisioned, today’s legislature is weak and enfeebled. Our Founders would be astonished to see how much power has shifted away from it. A rediscovery of our revolutionary principles is needed to reaffirm the centrality of Congress.
Today’s Congress has become perhaps the least respected institution in America. According to Pew Research, it is even less popular than media and universities, sitting at 26 percent. This decline is not because Democrats and Republicans need to change their political ideologies but because they need to demand that their representative body exercise real power. Voters ought to see themselves as partisans for the branch most representative of them—their Congress. Until then, future presidents and courts appointed by both parties will continue to expand their power—at the people’s expense.
