What this country needs is a good, old-fashioned Senate.
We’re even not asking for a collegial body whose members debate civilly on the floor by day and share spaghetti and drinks at night.
We would like a Senate that debates in person (not just on Fox and MSNBC) and actually votes on major issues. A Senate that is not controlled by a Kentucky politician whose family is seriously dependent on China. A Senate whose members talk to each other in words of more than one syllable.
A Senate that with the House of Representatives is an equal branch of government, not a mindless sycophant of the White House. A Senate that in the midst of a pandemic, with millions of people out of work and money, does not go on vacation for weeks so its leaders can campaign for reelection.
A Senate that does not deny a sitting president the constitutional right to get a hearing on legally nominated justices or announce that no matter what the president does, the Senate will block it. A Senate that would listen to the testimony of key witnesses in an impeachment trial. A Senate that would not permit the president to use the military to attack U.S. citizens.
A Senate that from all appearances is not dead.
If the Democrats were clever and smart (and the evidence seems skimpy that as a party they are), they would devote at least as much money, time and effort to electing a Senate not controlled by people terrified of Trump tweets as they are flailing about trying to defeat an autocrat.
That means replacing just four Republican senators with Democrats. Hardly a Sisyphean task. But once again Democrats are so determined to get Trump out of office they may be on the path to blowing the Senate challenge.
There are 53 Senate Republicans and 47 Democrats, including two Independents who vote with Democrats. There are 35 Senate seats up for reelection this year. In a tie, the vice president votes. If Democrats have 51 seats, they will control the Senate even if Mike Pence is still veep.
Running for the Senate is not cheap. The average cost of a campaign for the Senate in 2014, the last time most of the incumbents running for reelection this year ran, was $10.6 million. Obviously, the price is higher these days. Because of the Supreme Court, which ruled in Citizens United case that spending millions to elect a politician is equivalent to free speech, businesses and business groups can spend as much as they want.
In the last high-profile Senate race, in 2018, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, spent $35 million to get reelected. His challenger, Democrat Beto O’Rourke, spent $60 million. All told, several billion dollars will be spent on the presidential and congressional races in the 2020 election.
But if control of the Senate goes to Democrats and if, as expected, they keep control of the House, there is a chance to reclaim democracy.
For example, the Senate could make clear that those in the military and paid government employees must never appear at political events. No more Defense and Joint Chiefs of Staff chiefs appearing in political photo ops with a president. No more secretaries of state flying on millions of taxpayer dimes to appear in foreign countries to go on TV during a political convention, cementing the notion that government and military actions are to benefit the incumbent president.
Congress could make clear that the Hatch Act, forbidding political activity by government employees, applies to the president and vice president.
Congress could make certain that the emoluments clause means presidents and their families may not make policy decisions that provide them personally with millions of dollars.
Congress could spell out that the perks of being president belong to the people and are not to be used as reelection tools, such as using the White House for a backdrop for a political convention.
Congress could determine that the Department of Justice policy not to indict presidents for criminal behavior is not law and not binding. Legislators could mandate that presidents make public their tax returns so voters know if the power of the presidency is being used to fatten a president’s bank account.
A viable Congress could prevent independent inspectors-general from being fired for investigating malfeasance in the executive branch.
A working Congress could reclaim its power of the purse and stop permitting the White House to siphon money away from the military to build a vanity wall that experts say will not keep immigrants out.
A Senate made up of courageous members not smitten by a cult of presidential personality might vote to get rid of a president who is fundamentally unable to do the job.
Ann McFeatters is an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service. Email her at amcfeatters@nationalpress.com.