13 hours Ago
Donald Trump won the presidency on a platform to make America great again. A majority of Americans supported this goal, so it makes sense to remind ourselves of what it is that actually makes America great. Many interpreted Trump’s MAGA call to be about culture issues that resonated with them: abortion, gun rights, strict gender definitions.
Some believed that law and order have come under attack. Trump’s promises to “drain the swamp” appealed to a significant number of people. And others were just worried about the price of eggs or gasoline.
What is it that really makes America great? The genius of the American regime is our written Constitution, which — however flawed — represented a vast improvement over previous legal systems. England did not have a written constitution, and this allowed the king and a compliant legislature to do whatever they wanted to do. Our Declaration of Independence called this tyranny.
Our Constitution’s central message is that the power of government must be limited. To that end, our founders established a complicated system of bicameralism, separation of powers and checks and balances. These honored institutions were designed to discourage tyranny by any one person and to discourage what they called “majority tyranny,” where the majority forces its priorities on the minority in a way that threatens its rights.
These institutions create intentional inefficiencies; they slow down the decision-making process to allow multiple opportunities for people of opposing views to modify and sometimes block executive or legislative action. Our built-in inefficiencies are frustrating, and it is true that they don’t always work as well as they should. But they were our founders’ best effort to, as Madison put it in Federalist 10, provide “a republican remedy to the diseases most incident to republican government.
” No government can be perfect, but including institutional inefficiencies has been, I believe, a great contribution to our country’s success and well being. We can always work to correct mistakes in the Constitution or make changes that seem better to us in the modern era. We can amend the Constitution.
But we put ourselves at risk if we think that ignoring or bypassing bicameralism, separation of powers or checks and balances will make our country great again. These institutions are central to what made us great in the first place. And now, Republicans will be tested.
Donald Trump understands that many Americans have grown frustrated with the government’s inefficiency, and he has promised to take immediate action to solve the country’s problems. But the Constitution (Article II, Section 2) requires the “advice and consent” of the Senate for many of his recent nominations for top positions in his administration. He has let it be known that he wants the Senate to vote to adjourn itself so he can make what are known as recess appointments, which would sidestep this constitutional requirement.
This is an abuse of the Senate’s solemn responsibility and the Constitution. The Senate confirmation process can delay the appointment of administration nominees, and many Americans are in no mood for delays. But the Senate confirmation process has a real purpose.
Sometimes presidents make poor choices, and sometimes the Senate hearings bring out issues that need reasoned consideration. It is a slow process, but it is designed for that reason to keep too much power from resting with any president. If the Senate caves to pressure from Trump, it will be abandoning one of its important constitutional responsibilities.
And that will send a signal not only to Trump but to all future presidents — including Democratic presidents-- that it is ceding power and authority to the executive branch. No single branch of government should have that much power. Even if many Republicans are convinced that Trump’s nominees are excellent choices (and many Republicans have already expressed concerns), the confirmation process is an essential hurdle to giving presidents what they want.
It allows for careful scrutiny of nominees, it gives moderate Republicans a chance to take a stand, and it gives the opposition party a chance to make its case. Will Republicans pass their first test under Trump and show that their Democratic critics are wrong? Will they hold regular confirmation hearings for all of Trump’s executive nominees that require senatorial approval? Or will they allow the president to pressure them into ignoring the Constitution? A majority of Americans are impatient with the processes that are central to our Constitution. This is a time for Republican senators to stand and be counted.
Taking shortcuts around the Constitution to get things done will not make America great again; it would actually weaken the institution of Congress, diminish America and set a dangerous precedent for the future. Solomon D. Stevens of North Charleston is a retired professor of constitutional law, American government and political theory.
He is a regular contributor to The Post and Courier Opinion section. He can be reached at [email protected].
