Every year, Gallup asks Americans for their views on 16 different institutions, from small business to the U.S. Supreme Court to television news. And every year, one institution ranks dead last in public trust: the U.S. Congress. In the most recent poll, only 8% of Americans expressed faith in its ability to represent the people.
Core to the problem is that Congress has lost sight of what its responsibilities are and are not. The U.S. Constitution outlines the powers of Congress in Article I, Section 8, and they include the ability to levy taxes, borrow money, regulate commerce, coin money, declare war, support the armed forces, and make laws necessary to execute these powers, among a few others, such as commissioning new post offices.
Conspicuously absent from the list is a mandate to referee the country’s most divisive social issues, such as abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, and gun restrictions. Yet many members of Congress — and the leadership in both parties — have made these issues their bread-and-butter, wielding them to rally their bases, stoke divisions among the electorate and above all, fundraise.
For Congress to regain trust, it needs to return to its knitting as the holder of the purse strings and a responsible check on the executive branch. While Congress is not constitutionally forbidden from legislating on divisive social issues, they have truly squandered their right to do so. It should leave these issues where they belong: to the states.
Our founders had a brilliant and prescient understanding of the complexity of governing a country as large and diverse as ours. James Madison, often called the Father of the Constitution, wrote that, “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.”
They understood that government is best when it is closest to the people, where it is most responsive to their needs, beliefs, and desires. They knew this back when we had roughly a quarter as many states with competing visions — only 13 compared to today’s 50. Surely, their vision is more important today than ever.
Instead, representatives from our most progressive districts and our most conservative districts spend precious time fighting over issues that our large and divided country will simply never agree on, that Congress likely won’t even vote on, and they do so at the expense of their actual constitutional duties.
Today, our national debt, an excellent barometer of Congress’ ability to manage public finances, has surpassed $35 trillion and is climbing by another $1 trillion roughly every 100 days. This has been called the most predictable crisis in American history, and it’s one that every American will be forced to pay for if Congress can’t broker a solution.
Solutions are out there for the taking, including difficult but necessary reforms to entitlements like Social Security and Medicare. The sooner Congress acts, the less painful and disruptive these cures will be. If they wait until the last minute, millions of people may lose critical benefits.
This moment of crisis is coming sooner than many think. The Social Security trust fund is set to go bankrupt in 2035, and Medicare in 2036. This could leave a quarter of American seniors in poverty and millions without health benefits.
Abortion and gay rights are important issues, but Congress has squandered the people’s trust and proven incapable of handling these delicate matters responsibly.
The party bosses are reluctant to give these issues up, but there is another way. America needs a new crop of independent-minded candidates in 2026 who will refocus on the actual constitutional duties of the U.S. Congress. In an era of razor thin House majorities, it won’t take many to serve as a powerful bloc capable of redirecting and refocusing Congress on what matters most.
The American people will be better served by congressional candidates that leave social issues, for which there are no realistic federal solutions, to the states as our founders intended. If this can be done, then maybe, just maybe, Congress can solve the challenges it is mandated to solve and win back the trust of the people.
Roger Hutson is a co-chair of No Labels Colorado, a board member of Colorado Concern, and the CEO of HRM Resources IV, LLC
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Originally Published: August 26, 2024 at 10:33 a.m.
