The new Congress boasts a large incoming class of freshmen legislators: at least 98 between the House and the Senate. Many of the new members will face a steep learning curve on the basics of their office. They will need to get a handle on House or Senate procedures and figure out their new roles on the various congressional committees.
The new members need to take time for these tasks. In addition, they should find the time to consider deeper questions about their new job. They should consider the constitutional role of Congress as well as the principles they should pursue as the nation’s legislative body. As these new members are seated, what might they read to prepare them to think about these matters? Here are five suggestions:
1) The Federalist Papers by Publius (Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay). This joint effort by three of America’s Founding Fathers constitutes the best commentary on the need for and basic principles of the Constitution. In a time of increasing polarization, these essays lay out why our Union is a good and necessary thing. It shows, in Federalist 10 for example, how our unity protects against some of the worst threats to republican government. It also discusses, in numbers 52-66, the nature and powers of the House and Senate. Legislators may have a hard time reconciling its description with their experience of Congress today. But perhaps, armed with the arguments of Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, they can begin to bridge the gap.
2) The Political Theory of the American Founding by Tom West. This 2017 book, written by my colleague at Hillsdale College, stems from decades of study on the American founding. It helpfully shows the underlying unity of principle informing our country’s origins — a commitment to equal natural rights and a morally ordered liberty. It also delves deeply into how the framers acted on these principles, with copious research into how states legislated to pursue these goals.
3) Is Administrative Law Unlawful? by Phillip Hamburger. Congress often seems impotent, unwilling, and unable to act. Hamburger gives a cogent history of one reason that happened. He details the development of our massive bureaucracy, which itself exercises significant legislative (as well as executive and judicial) power. Hamburger describes how this situation violates the constitutional separation of powers and threatens to return us to past forms of unitary, tyrannical rule. Perhaps in showing the origins of Congress’s abdication, it could help new members consider how to begin regaining constitutional legislative authority.
4) The Broken Branch by Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein. Deliciously titled, this work complements Hamburger’s book. Hamburger shows how Congress delegated its legislative power. This work details how Congress increasingly has damaged its own ability to run effectively. Congress is no longer structured to legislate well or to inculcate institutional pride. Parties, and therefore partisanship, instead have gained dominance to fill the void. While I may differ with some of the analysis and proposed fixes, this work could help legislators understand the history of how Congress runs and some underlying reasons for its self-imposed paralysis.
5) Coriolanus by William Shakespeare. This play by the Bard portrays an important quality of our current political situation: the divide between elites and the common man. The Rome of this play really is two cities, not one. The common people and the nobles live separate lives, disdainful of each other except in times of most dire necessity. Shakespeare’s narrative shows the virtues and vices of both groups. He also describes the need for a combination of the best qualities of commoners and of elites for the sake of a full and true common good based in justice for all.
These suggestions in no way exhaust the helpful works a new representative or senator could read. But they would form a solid beginning. They would give new members a groundwork to contemplate the principles of our country, the practices of Congress, and the current political situation. I can’t think of a better preparation for their new office.
Adam Carrington is an assistant professor of politics at Hillsdale College.
