Derek Scissors emphasizes the importance for conservatives of the U.S. Senate confirmation process.
The American state is very tempting for those controlling it. Who wouldn’t want to spend $1 or $2 trillion more than you take in, each and every year? The conservative impulse to pare back the size of government has all but disappeared as a political force. Trump supporters are loud about plans to slash government payrolls. A fine idea, but government payrolls are smaller as a share of population than 50 years ago.
Meanwhile, the more dangerous and daunting problem of borrowing huge amounts of money against our children’s future receives far less attention. This is the lure of today’s politics replacing principles—tackle what’s expedient, putting off the struggle to do what’s vital.
In the case of confirming cabinet and other important executive branch positions, what’s expedient is to demand immediate action. Congress is slow, sometimes purposefully and sometimes because it has fingers in too many pies and very little gets done. There’s good reason to push Congress to move faster on confirmations, just like there’s good reason to limit government payrolls.
But conservatives, especially, should be wary of going too far. For all its flaws, and in some cases exactly because of its flaws, it’s hard for Congress to abuse government power. While often frustrating, that’s still a good thing. It’s much simpler for a President to abuse power. There was a lot of talk during the 2024 campaign that the US needed a stronger President, even dictatorial authority.
Conservatives (should) know the danger in that. Being a dictator for a day wouldn’t be nearly enough to get anything done. Nor would a week, or even a month. A year would, but then how to keep those changes from being quickly reversed? Better to stay a dictator, just to make sure . . .
