Did Anyone Notice Congress Was Gone?

Members of Congress — calling them lawmakers would be too generous — returned to Washington this week from a month-long recess. For what reason, nobody can say. Senators will linger for three weeks of inactivity before heading home. Antsier still, the House ditched out today for seven weeks to allow for midterm campaigning. One has to wonder, for what purpose are members seeking reelection? What are they campaigning to do?

The cardinal defect of the Articles of Confederation was the absence of a centralized lawmaking body (with teeth) that was able, in Alexander Hamilton’s words, to steer “the direction of the most essential national interests.” Delegates at the Constitutional Convention rectified this deficiency with a national Congress — one furnished with a set of limited yet muscular powers, including managing the fisc and raising a military.