Congress panders to easy public sentiment

In a shameless act of legislative brashness, Congress has voted
to create a nationwide do-not-call list, which was signed into law
by President Bush on Sept. 29. The wildly popular measure
forbidding telemarketers to call listed households passed by a
margin of 95-0 in the Senate and 412-8 in the House. Rep. Billy
Tauzin, the Louisiana Republican who sponsored the bill, suggested
that the measure be called “The This Time We Really Mean It
Act,” referring to an earlier court ruling blocking
implementation of the law.

The do-not-call list, like “freedom fries” and
“freedom toast,” gave Congress an irresistible chance
to pander to public sentiment, striking out boldly in a righteous
display of legislative anger. Indeed, such childish bravado has
increasingly replaced actual leadership as Congress has abdicated
its constitutional responsibilities in the face of a hostile world
and a domineering administration.

In order to comprehend the pathetic state of the United States
Congress, one need only compare its swift, decisive action against
telemarketers with its utter passivity in matters such as the Iraq
war and the Bush administration’s anti-terrorism
initiatives.

Last fall, the administration began calling for Saddam
Hussein’s removal and the formation of a new, democratic
Iraqi regime. The project has staggering implications ““
having devised a new policy of preemptive warfare, the
administration proposed to sacrifice billions of dollars and an
unknown number of lives.

But despite the obvious importance of the war debate and its
outcome, Congress uttered scarcely a word. Indeed, there was no
real dialogue to speak of, except for the administration’s
daily calls for regime change. Throughout the yearlong buildup to
war, Congress remained generally mute and ultimately passed a bill
authorizing Bush to resolve the conflict as he saw fit, neither
declaring war nor expressing opposition to it.

Rather than exercise leadership in a time of national crisis,
U.S. legislators have become a craven mob, tripping over themselves
to claim credit for popular, but meaningless, measures while
failing to address issues of freedom and security in a world
plagued by terrorism. In a matter of hours, Congress assembled a
large, bipartisan majority in support of the do-not-call list, and
Tauzin issued his warning against judicial interference with the
program. But where is this passion on issues of substance?

If Congress is to reclaim its power to write laws, declare war
and generally oversee the war on terrorism, it must approach these
matters of state with the same vigor it has applied to
telemarketers and french fries.

Solotorovsky writes for the University of Virginia’s
Cavalier Daily.