Caesar^s Columnrnby Samuel FrancisrnIf anything could make the modern presidency look good, itrnis the modern Congress, hitended by the Framers, throughrna misinterpretation of the British constitution, to offer a checkrnto the executive branch, the federal legislature has in factrnevolved into merely its partner and more often its lackey. ThernPresident now openly intervenes in congressional elections tornensure the return of those lawmakers most subservient to him,rnand as soon as congressmen take office, they begin to learn howrnto manipulate the administrative state within the executivernbranch to glue themselves to their seats. Because of the federalrnleviathan itself, the services a congressional office can todayrnperform for its constituents (and often for nonconstituents) extendsrnfar beyond getting them passports and appointing theirrndaughters to the military academies. Jobs in government, federalrncontracts and subsidies, welfare of all kinds, and expertrnguidance through the leviathan’s tortuous web of wish-grantingrngenies permit congressmen to build up bank accounts of politicalrnfavors among voters within their districts and real bank accountsrnfrom political donations for future campaign expenses.rnIt is probable that most of what modern legislators spend theirrntime on todav is practicing the arts of massaging, twisting, andrnsqueezing the executive bureaucracy for their own personal politicalrninterests, and if the congressman himself does not do it,rnevery office contains aides whose jobs consist of little but managingrn”constituent services,” the exploitation of the executivernbranch for the benefit of voters. It is precisely because of thernemergence of these arts that Newt Gingrich was able to sayrnsome years ago that there was less turnover in the membershiprnof Congress than there was in that of the Soviet Politburo, andrnshort of gross incompetence or personal scandal, there is nornreason wliy any congressman who has learned how to pinchrnthe udders of the executive cow properly should ever get kickedrnSamuel Francis is a nationally syndicated columnist.rnoff his stool.rnIn the modern American political system, then, the legislatirne branch no longer checks and balances the executie branchrnand in fact has become largely an extension of it. This in partrnexplams why the “Republican Revolution” has been such arnflop. After nearly four years of the “revolution,” Mr. Gingrichrnand his minions of the Grand Old Party have spectacularlyrnfailed to abolish a single government agency, terminate a singlerngovernment program, or reverse a single judicial decision. Onernof the great triumphs of the “revolution” was to enact a law requiringrnthat Congress must be bound b}’ the laws it imposes onrnother citizens, so that today congressional staffers must pay SocialrnSecurity and their bosses must observe OSHA and affirmativernaction regulations. In passing the new law the Republicansrnentirely missed the point. The purpose of drumming the factrnthat congressional offices were not bound by many of the lawsrnand [programs they had passed was to get rid of the laws and programs,rnnot to make sure that more people were burdened byrnthem. By requiring their own offices to abide by OSHA rulesrnand affirmative action regulations, the congressmen merelyrnpassed whatever burdens such rules impose on to the citizensrnand taxpayers for whom the congressmen are supposed to work.rnThe second great victory of the Republican Revolution wasrnthe adoption of the line-item veto, a favorite gewgaw of Beltwayrnpolicy-wonks that supposedly allows the President to eliminatern”pork barrel” from congressional legislation. Whether it will orrnnot remains to be seen, but one certain result of the measurernwill be to enhance the power of the presidency over Congressrneven further, giving the chief executive in essence a license tornblackmail dissident lawmakers by threatening to cut out measuresrnnecessary to their political survival. When the Republicansrnfinally enacted the line-item veto, after decades of balhhoornabout it from the Beltway right, no one seemed tornunderstand why President Clinton himself was so gleeful aboutrnOCTOBER 1997/23rnrnrn