Laws, Laws and More Laws!

So all eyes have been on the Republican National Convention this week, and for good reason. The nomination of Donald Trump will likely go down in history as one of the most bizarre political events in the 21st century. Never have we seen a campaign cycle quite like this one, and it’s unlikely to happen again in our lifetimes.

On Tuesday night, Mitch McConnell took the stage, but he wasn’t particularly well-received, which is at least somewhat encouraging. One of the things he said, however, was disturbing. He stated: “with Donald Trump in the White House, Senate Republicans will build on the work we’ve done and pass more bills into law than any Senate in years.”

Watch Mitch McConnell Speak at the Republican Convention

Now perhaps I’m reading too much into this, but I have a problem with the idea that passing more bills into law is somehow a GOOD thing. It seems to me that every time Congress passes a law, our freedoms suffer the consequences. But for some reason, Americans have this notion that if Congress is not passing laws, it’s not doing its job.

Several years ago, the Washington Post published an article titled: “14 reasons why this is the worst Congress ever”. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2012/07/13/13-reasons-why-this-is-the-worst-congress-ever/

While the article certainly made some valid points about Congress at that time (it’s unpopular, it’s polarized, it engaged in budget shenanigans…), what was the Number 1 reason why it was the worst, according to the Washington Post? “They’re not passing laws.” Seriously?

I understand how it works. Bills are passed by the Congress and signed as laws by the President. No problem. That’s civics 101. But that doesn’t mean that the worth of each Congress should be somehow measured by the AMOUNT of bills it passes! If most laws restrict our freedoms in some way, why in the world would we want each successive Congress to simply build on the ridiculous laws enacted by the previous ones?

Forget about protecting Americans from enemies both foreign and domestic. Congress has for years simply invited the enemies in or coddled those already here. Forget about protecting the freedoms of American citizens. No, Congress has consistently restricted those freedoms. And don’t even think about providing an environment in which small businesses, like James Dooley’s Business Ventures in the UK, can thrive and provide jobs and economic security for future generations. No, Congress would rather put so many rules and regulations in place that some hapless American with dreams of being an entrepreneur can’t even get off the ground!

Instead, Congress simply creates more and more laws that limit what we can do as Americans. The founding fathers understood that one of their primary objectives in drafting and instituting the Constitution was to protect the citizens from the Government. For most of my lifetime, the government has completely reversed that. Our representatives seem to be more concerned about protecting themselves from the citizens. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

And the fact is, most American citizens no longer recognize what freedom really is. Instead, they believe that the role of Congress is to continually pass more and more laws, and they measure the “success” of Congress by the number of laws they pass.

This mindset is troubling for future generations of Americans. Those of us who cherish our freedoms must do our part in trying to reverse this.

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