Elected assemblies were no stranger to colonial Americans before the Revolution. Virginia’s General Assembly first meet in 1619. The American colonies’ long experiences with representative assemblies informed the debate on the creation of our national government as expressed in our Constitution.
The Constitution created three separate and equal branches: Executive, Judicial, and Legislative. The legislative branch was divided into two. A House of Representatives, directly elected by the people every two years, and a Senate. The Senators were not elected by the folks of their states but picked by state legislators. This changed in 1913 — in an age of reform after Gilded Age excesses when ‘robber barons’ (proto-tech bros) bought and sold senators – when the 17th Amendment was adopted. This amendment made senators directly elected and accountable to the people of their various states.
As the drafters of the Constitution debated structure of the national legislature, it is clear many mistrusted rule by the masses. The solution was another level of checks and balances: A divided Congress. The House was meant to represent the hot and passionate voice of the people, hence the two-year election cycle. The Senate was meant to temper and cool the passions of the people, hence the six-year terms. A ying-yang type of thing.
In its time, it was a liberal creation (small l). A directly elected national assembly rare. Although one must add a huge asterisk to that claim as suffrage was primarily reserved for men who owned property, and in many instances in the early republic to white men only. Eventually the franchise did expand, with women being the last added. As a side note, I should comment that white immigrant men could and did vote in national elections as voting rights were not tied to citizenship until well into to the 19th century. Many states permitted immigrants the right to vote into the early 20th century. The nationalism of the post-world war I era ended that practice.
The enumerated duties of Congress were listed in the Constitution, but, it’s primary duty was a check on the power of President (king) — in the liberal tradition of Great Britian since the Glorious Revolution of 1689. As such, the list of congressional powers was long and gave congress the power to declare war, the power of the purse, the regulation of the militia and Army, the power to regulate domestic and foreign trade, to list a few. For the Senate, the power to ratify treaties and confirm presidential nominees to high office was added.
This system basically worked for close to 236 years, until it didn’t. It’s not the structure. Our political party system is fatally broken. You need two parties, not one party and one cult lead by a messianic Daddy Trump.
Congress is dead. Long live Trump.
A postmortem would reveal the cause of death as neglect followed by blunt force trauma. The manner of death? Democracide.
Et Tu, Johnson and Thune? Speaker Mike Johnson and senate majority leader John Thune have murdered Congress, finishing the job started by Mitch McConnell. Johnson won’t even call the House back into session and Thune has attached himself to Trump’s scrotum like a sucker fish attaches itself to a shark. This week Sec Def Hegseth severely constrained congressional oversight by severing most routine formal and informal discourse between congress and the Defense Department and one trillion dollars in spending.
Trump literally shits on the people in his AI generated fantasies and Congress defends him. He frequently moves money without congressional official approval and routinely uses rescission to ignore legislative funding bills. In short, Congress ceded most of its enumerated powers to Trump. Even the act of declaring war has been ceded, permitting Trump to order extra judicial killings on the high seas. In the old days we called that piracy. Congress is dead in name.
The Supreme Court is the undertaker.
I have no concluding paragraph. What is there left to say any more? The phrases “that’s illegal” or “that’s unconstitutional” are deader than a door nail in a post law and order America. Might as well stop using them as they are as useless as Congress and a spittoon full of spit.
