DrewM, Ace of Spades’ resident gadfly, is reliably critical of the legislative branch. And for good reason. They have abrogated their responsibilities in the service of short-term political gain…namely being reelected. But today he brought up an excellent point, one that is often overwhelmed by Congress’s more obvious and painful shortcomings.
The real question in the House leadership races should be about which candidates have a plan to restore the legislative branch’s rightful place in our Constitutional system. But that would mean Congress would have to write laws that are more than first drafts for regulators and then fight the President (of either party) who encroaches on their authorities. But that would mean work and doing stuff which is way beyond the competency and interest of most of these people.
Not only has Congress given essentially absolute power to the executive, they have ceded what little lawmaking they have left to the unelected bureaucratic lackeys of the president. I am ignorant of the minutiae of writing federal law, but I cannot imagine that tightly written laws are an impossibility. Of course those laws are written by lobbyists and other interested parties who have bought their places at the legislative table, so it’s not surprising that they are flawed.
Actually, DrewM brought up two good points….Our congressmen are lazy, disinterested fools. Their behavior would get them fired from any competently run private organization.
And he’s exactly right. They’ve also forgotten that their responsibility is to represent their constituents, not to rule.