The Outstater

August 5, 2025

The Legislative Experiment

---

“Decrepitude remains the path of least resistance for the institution that is supposed to be the beating heart of American self-government.” — Phillip Wallach

---

WE ALL ARE TIRED of complaining about Congress so let’s abandon it as sunk cost. We may be obligated to maintain the payroll and provide a place for it to meet, and time available we should continue to monitor as best we can its incursion on our liberty and property, but the experiment is sadly over. 

Congress’s job approval rating, ticking up only recently as Republicans there vote with the President, was 17 percent earlier this year, only television news being rated lower. That percentage, as I am fond of reminding, corresponds to the number of drunk or otherwise addled people wandering around at any given time.

The other branches already ignore Congress for all practical purposes. Judges, organized as mini-legislatures, rule however they personally choose; presidents, sitting at their desk, sign executive orders— so many that one must wonder at what point we must concede that we live under administrative tyranny.

On the topic of tyranny, knowledgable friends advise that we divert our money, energy and time away from congressional politics and try to get into position to choose a benign dictator — or two or three, depending on how the nation segments.

Anyway, Congress’s obituary may have been written this week by Philip Wallach of the American Enterprise Institute. Wallach, author of the 2023 book “Why Congress?” analyzes the dysfunction in a carefully thought piece. His conclusion:

“We have no shortage of prescriptions for congressional revitalization. What we are short on is members with the courage (foolhardiness?) to risk their careers and partisan good standing to force the institution to operate differently — together with the perspicacity to understand how such a change would play out and why it would matter.”

There’s not much to add to that. I have no suggestion on how to deal with members of our Indiana delegation specifically. But we should each make an effort, no matter how admirable he or she may be, to firmly impress on them that whatever they are doing isn’t effective, that things aren’t copasetic out here, and to quit sending us those insipid mailings that presume we “don’t know how things work” in Washington. — tcl

Our Site

Full use of this site, including access to the search function and the archive of past articles and journals, is now available to everyone.

Connect with Us

 

Our mission is to marshal the best thought on governmental, economic and educational issues at the state and municipal levels. We seek to accomplish this in ways that:

• Exalt the truths of the Declaration of Independence, especially as they apply to the interrelated freedoms of religion, property and speech.
• Emphasize the primacy of the individual in addressing public concerns.
• Recognize that equality of opportunity is sacrificed in pursuit of equality of results.

The Indiana Policy Review Foundation is a non-profit education foundation focused on state and municipal issues. It is free of outside control by any individual, organization or group. It exists solely to conduct and distribute research on Indiana issues. Nothing written here is to be construed as reflecting the views of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before the legislature or to further any political campaign.

The foundation's white papers are intended to make scholarly research on Indiana issues more widely available to policy analysts and researchers. White Papers represent research in progress and are published to invite comment and discussion as preparation for their submission to academic journals and other professional publications. The authors are solely responsible for the content of their research and analysis.