Jonah Goldberg at The Dispatch:
I’m happy to concede that our problems have many causes. Still, my answer to the question, “What is one thing you would do to solve—or just improve—American politics and America’s mounting list of crises?” My answer would be, “Fix Congress.”
Sort of like Balzac’s famous line, “Show me a great fortune, and I’ll show you a great crime,” if you show me a big problem, I can make the case that Congress’ dysfunction either created the problem or made it worse.
…
Pick almost any issue. Trade? The Constitution gives Congress sole authority to regulate trade. But over the last century, Congress has more or less transferred that authority to the executive branch. Immigration? Making hay with the complexities of the issue helps both parties politically, but solving it through reform of the immigration laws is hard and painful. Better to do nothing. The national debt? Congress has successfully followed its own budget process only four times in the last half century, the last instance was in 1997. And only once did it manage that on time—in 1977. Congress instead relies on a slew of ugly stopgaps, continuing resolutions and omnibus bills that put spending on autopilot.
This isn’t just a wonky point about sausage-making. Congress is where politics is supposed to happen. When it fails to absorb political and partisan passions, those passions spill out into institutions not designed to absorb them.