Make Congress Great Again: We need to unite around our Constitution, not be divided by party politics. (Mickey Edwards, Apr 17, 2025, American Purpose)
The real danger of this moment is not about any individual policy but the accretion of unchecked power in the hands of a single man. The essence of American constitutional government is twofold: the balance of powers between the federal government and the states; and the division of federal powers between equal and competitive branches, of which the greatest power—because it is most representative of the will of the people—rests in the people’s Congress. This power structure rests on both norms of behavior and a framework of institutions designed to ensure a continuing commitment to the nation’s foundational principles, including liberty, justice, security, and equality—all of which are currently under attack.Breaching of due process (searches without warrants, arrests without charges, criminalization of speech, the elimination of Congress as a meaningful participant in government decisions) eliminates many of the core freedoms that lured our parents and grandparents to come to America, often at high risk—to be part of this land of promise, this land that men and women have died to protect on battlefields from Bunker Hill to Berlin.
Here is how we think outside the box.
First, recognize that the courts alone cannot stop the flood of constitutional breaches flowing from the White House: the judicial process is slow and limited in its powers. The one force equal to that of the presidency is the Congress of the United States. But both parties are executive-centric and focus their political strategies primarily on the election of a president who mirrors their own beliefs and goals. Members of both parties have long records of acquiescing to presidents of their own party and stretching the limits of constitutional permissibility to achieve a desired political goal. In the end, it is one party—its agenda, and its desire for political dominance—that supersedes the constitutional separation of powers that was designed to protect against exactly the kind of dictatorial threat we now face.
The primary focus now needs to be on reasserting Congress’s Article One role as maker of laws, decider of policies, distributor of funds, designer of taxation—and ensuring the election to Congress of men and women who recognize their constitutional obligations to check the ambitions of would-be kings.
Actually, that is the box.