Op-Eds

Of all the things shared by the United States and Britain, perhaps the most important is the common law—a system of law that isn’t imposed from above but arises from the people in the form of cases and precedents. Engrained in common law is the concept of “partnership.” Partnerships allow individuals to cooperate by sharing knowledge and resources for mutual benefit. They are also voluntary, allowing each member to freely associate, and require each to value the welfare of his counterpart as much as his own.

Earlier this week, Democratic Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema publicly declared their support for the Senate’s cloture rule, which requires a supermajority of 60 votes to end floor debates and pass most legislation. Their statements effectively ended the Senate’s latest flirtation with the so-called “nuclear option” -- the parliamentary gambit by which many Democrats want to eliminate the 60-vote threshold with only their 50 votes.

Today I am introducing the One Agency Act—a bill to put all federal antitrust enforcement under one roof. For over a century, enforcement of the antitrust laws has been divided between the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission – more than enough time to see that this arrangement does not work.

During the recent vice presidential debate, I pointed out on Twitter that our form of government in the United States is not a democracy, but a republic. The confused and vehement media criticism that ensued persuaded me that this point might be better served in an essay rather than a 140-character Tweet. Insofar as “democracy” means “a political system in which government derives its powers from the consent of the governed,” then of course that accurately describes our system. But the word conjures far more than that. It is often used to describe rule by majority, the view that it is the prerogative of government to reflexively carry out the will of the majority of its citizens.