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Would the American people be better off without Congress?

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by Douglas MacKinnon, opinion contributor - 04/25/26 12:00 PM ET

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by Douglas MacKinnon, opinion contributor - 04/25/26 12:00 PM ET

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It would certainly be understandable if some constituents chose to take a very hot shower after reading about the alleged seedy activities of (now former) Reps. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and Tony Gonzales (R-Texas). Unfortunately, there is a growing fear that their vile conduct may be but the tip of a very toxic iceberg floating about the halls of Congress.

Described as a “cesspool,” a “swamp” and a “sewer,” Congress has morphed into the largest “Animal House” like fraternity on the U.S. campus, its members rarely facing any real consequences.

At what point are the American taxpayers who fund Congress allowed to declare “Enough is enough?” When do the sexual shenanigans, the shutdowns, the expensive junkets and the endless recesses become too much?

And as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) pointed out on Facebook last December, “over half of all Members of Congress are millionaires. … Many of our lawmakers have no lived experience of working paycheck to paycheck or trying to pay rent working a low-wage job.”

If Ocasio-Cortez really wanted to call out the system to the working class, though, it would have been more illuminating if she also explained how some members of Congress can seemingly make millions of dollars via stock trades not available to the average American while in Congress.

A prominent example is former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Over the course of her more than 38-year congressional career, the high-ranking Democrat reportedly earned more than $130 million in stock profits for a return of 16,930 percent.

Most Americans don’t even know what “insider trading” means. Congress could offer a symposium on the subject.

When not dealing a culture of sexual harassment, curious stock trades, and hundreds of days off at the taxpayer’s expense, the day to day of Congress comes across to many Americans as a bunch of petulant children sitting in a sandbox throwing tantrums. This week’s example was Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was brutally brow-beaten as he took questions from both the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Anyone watching the hearings would quickly ascertain that certain Democratic senators had no interest in hearing Kennedy’s answer to their questions. It was all virtue signaling to the left, as well as payback time against Kennedy for daring to walk away from the Democratic Party to help the Trump administration.

It should be made clear that the Democrats in no way have a monopoly on this childish and counterproductive behavior. Republicans engage in it often when a Democrat occupies the Oval Office. And who ultimately pays? The public.

So, would the American people be better off without Congress? Certainly, many believe so. Is it possible? Not really, because it would be the lawmakers themselves who would have to vote to limit their powers or eliminate Congress.

But for just a second, imagine Congress to be an out-of-control machine shop making nothing of use while creating a deafening noise so loud it is literally painful to your ears. Then, for one brief moment, you step outside to a beautiful flower-filled meadow of almost complete silence, except for the faint melodic chirping of birds.

It’s nice to imagine. Unfortunately, that’s the only real recourse the public has with a Congress that still gleefully thumbs its nose at the laws and rules that apply to others.

Douglas MacKinnon is a former White House and Pentagon official.

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