The Political Spectrum

My new political hero is Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin. Over the weekend he led a coalition of Republicans that stalled implementation of the plans for imtelligence reform. Sensenbrenner's main problems with the bill can be read here. He writes, "the 9/11 reform bill is currently snagged by the Senate's refusal to address three critical issues: Should states continue to issue driver's licenses to illegal aliens? Should we tighten our asylum system that terrorists exploited to such deadly effect? Have we ensured the military chain of command is not broken in our intelligence restructuring?"

My kudos go to Sensenbrenner and his colleagues for several reasons. First of all, it is incredibly irresponsible for Congress to blindly adopt the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Report as though the Commission members were all political prophets whose words we are to treat as divinely inspired. At the very least we should more carefully look at this bill and determine whether we should in fact implement these recommendations. I believe that Sensenbrenner and columnists such as Brendan Miniter, who wrote in today's Opinion Journal, raise tough and reasonable objections to the legislation before Congress. Even if the reforms all happen to be good ideas, we should not rush so freely to put these reforms into law before there has been adequate debate. It was incredibly aggrevating that Kerry demagogued this issue during the campaign, and it is disheartening that President Bush seems so eager to follow Kerry's advice.

Which leads me to the most important reason to praise the House Republicans for their actions. It seems they have rediscovered that they are an independent branch of the federal government and do not have to simply do whatever the President tells them to do, even if he is the leader of their political party. This may sound strange coming from a proud Bush supporter, but nothing drives me battier than the fact that Americans view the president as some sort of omnipotent being who is completely in control of all events, while at the same time ignoring the fact that there is this thing called Congress. It is crucially important that Congress assert itself as a vital and thriving institution with its own independent power base. The greatest blessing of this republic is the separation of powers and checks and balances. The Framers did not desire a runaway democracy, and the system that they created was designed to curtail rampant majoritarianism. Unfortunately too many people, especially the folks at the American Political Science Association, seek to turn America into a parliamentary system, and it has seemed at times that the folks in Washington were all too ready to oblige. Luckily for us certain people in Congress are not so eager to lie down for their President.

Actually, as a Republican it is good to see that members of Congress are being so diligent in their duties. Allowing the President and the President alone to set the agenda is wrong, no matter how many good ideas he may or may not have. Congressmen have a separate responsibility to contribute to the agenda. That's what drives me nuts about Kerry - he was a member of the Senate for 20 years, yet it took a run for the presidency to have any ideas of his own. He's certainly not the only one, but he symbolized the basic attitude that only the President can set the agenda. Hogwash, and I applaud the independence on display on Capitol Hill. Bravo, and keep it up.