The lack of spine on the congressional right comes to mind.
“The lack of spine on the congressional right comes to mind.”
Looking at the fall of our Republic, a significant factor has been the abdication of authority and accountability by Congress. The founders envisioned the representatives of the people (House) and the representatives of the states (Senate) to be the check on the power of the central state. The threat was always the Executive (President) would become a dictator, or the Judiciary (courts) would become dictatorial.
Through the 20th century, and continued in this century, Congress delegated law making and interpretation power to the Executive (regulations) and Judiciary (voiding laws passed by Congress on the whim of a judge). Today the Executive chooses which laws it will or will not enforce. Congress in many cases delegates the regulatory power when it passes legislation allowing the Executive to write regulations to make the law say what the unelected bureaucrats want it to say.
The Constitution does not guarantee Congress will pass only good legislation but the redress for bad legislation is the Presidential veto. If Congress passes bad legislation by overriding a veto, the redress for the people is to complain to their elected representatives. There is no provision in the Constitution for individual judges to void laws or the implementation of laws because the judge perceives the law to be bad. That power was interpreted into being by the courts themselves. Since the Constitution allows Congress the power of defining the role of the lower federal courts (below the Supreme Court) Congress can pass a law at any time stating federal judges cannot declare legislation unconstitutional or block the implementation of legislation. It is Congress that chooses not to stop the judicial tyranny of the federal courts.
As to the budget Congress has completely abdicated fiscal responsibility. Billions, and now trillions of dollars are appropriated with wide discretion given to the Executive branch’s unelected bureaucrats to spend. Instead of building budgets department by department, and eliminating failing programs or ending activities no longer necessary, Congress assumes a baseline (last year’s budget plus a % increase) as given and then adds more spending. Instead of passing budgets department by department, which would give more transparency and public scrutiny, all spending is accumulated in huge last minute omnibus “must pass before we know what’s in it” spending bills developed by Congressional aides. These aides work with executive branch bureaucrats, lobbyists, and other powerful outside actors to develop the budget of thousands of pages which Congress passes without reading or reviewing. As a result these bills are filled with billions in wasteful spending, much of it pork for special interests, that gets built into the baseline budget for the following year.
Congresscritters love these huge last minute spending bills because it allows them to avoid accountability. They tell constituents, “I know there was some bad stuff in that bill which I opposed but to keep the government from shutting down we had to vote for the total bill which includes many things you support.”
Congress no longer represents the people or the states. Politicians of both parties represent themselves, and the special interests who fund their campaigns. What you see in Congress is not a lack of spine. The reality is their interests do not align with yours and they are manipulating the system to enrich themselves and pay off their donors.