Author: R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D.
We are currently observing the realities of the legislative process in a true representative republic. President Trump’s so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” has been a tedious process, but an absolutely crucial one. Our country has been so influenced by the Biden administration’s and the Democrat Party’s Marxist policies, that something drastic and comprehensive is needed if we are to reverse course and return to the traditional conservative values and policies that built this country.
The first problem is that Congress has increasing gotten themselves into the habit of drafting very large, overly complicated bills instead of smaller bills ideally focusing on a single issue rather than a multiplicity of issues. The Big Beautiful Bill contains over 1900 pages and took over 16 hours to be read out loud on the floor of the Senate. While reading the bill out loud seems to make sense, the hypocritical Democrat senators who insisted on this did not even attend the reading! Just another effort to block the passage of the bill. One of the primary reasons that large multiple issue bills have become the standard is they allow congressman to attach issues that would likely never be approved if voted on individually. It also makes it very difficult, if not impossible, for the average citizen to understand what is actually in the bill and thereby evaluate whether their congressman is doing what they promised while campaigning.
The second problem is the power and influence of big donors. Political campaigns are increasingly costly, requiring millions of dollars. While campaigns funded by the voters reflecting their wishes would be ideal, congressman are increasingly reliant on donors (like big pharmaceutical companies, and political action committees) for campaign funding. These big donors obviously expect to receive something for their investment which can unduly influence bill drafting and congressional voting.
The third problem is the grand standers. Senators like Rand Paul and, more locally, Thom Tillis have shown that making personal statements is more important than what is best for the country. All congressman should vote the wishes of their constituents if they truly believe in representative democracy. They are elected to vote for the what their voters want, not crusade for something they want. This is especially clear with Senator Tillis who states that he will vote with the Democrats and the hell with the Republican voters who elected him. This arrogance and violation of his duty to his constituents is typical of him. In fact, in June 2023, Senator Tillis was censured by the North Carolina Republican Party convention for supporting typical Democrat Party issues like LGBTQ rights, illegal immigration, and restricting citizens gun rights. He also voted for the Democrat so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which was in reality, a major funding of green energy scams. Facing a likely primary battle in the next election, instead of bowing out gracefully, he thumbs his nose at his constituents and President Trump by announcing he would join Senator Rand Paul and vote against the Big Beautiful Bill. I say good riddance to him.
The fourth problem is how large multi-issue bills will always contain items that individual congressmen oppose. How should they deal with this reality? All decision making in the real world includes pros and cons. Very rarely is a major issue without things we would prefer be different. The symbol of a two-sided scale works well here. We typically have to balance the good with the bad. The possible with the impossible. Given the realities of these multiple issue bills, accepting this reality is critical. Personally, I would have preferred more cuts to federal spending and regulations as well as downsizing government agencies. However, a good start was made in this direction and should be recognized. This bill represents the possible and deserves support as does President Trump.