This Is Not a Monarchy! Congress: Reassert Oversight as You Return

The United States was not founded as a monarchy. The president is not a king, and the executive branch is not meant to operate beyond scrutiny. Our constitutional system depends on an active, engaged Congress that upholds its role as a co-equal branch of government. Oversight is not optional. It is not a courtesy extended by the executive branch, nor a partisan tactic to be deployed only when politically convenient. It is a core constitutional duty. When Congress fails to exercise oversight—when it tolerates missed deadlines, ignored subpoenas, or open defiance of the law—it does not merely weaken accountability. It weakens itself. The framers designed Congress to be a check on executive power precisely because unchecked authority inevitably leads to abuse. A president who faces no consequences for ignoring statutes, stonewalling investigations, or defying lawful demands is not constrained by law, but by personal whim. That is not republican government. It is rule by decree. Recent events have raised serious concerns about whether Congress is allowing this erosion of balance to continue unchecked. Laws have been passed. Deadlines have been established. Oversight authority has been clearly granted. Yet compliance has been partial, delayed, or nonexistent—without meaningful enforcement. A law without enforcement is not law at all; it is a suggestion. This responsibility begins with congressional leadership. As Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson holds significant authority over whether oversight is exercised or suppressed. Repeated assertions by the Speaker that he is unaware of, or disengaged from, major controversies do not absolve Congress of its constitutional role. When leadership declines to act, Congress as an institution is rendered powerless—not by law, but by choice. Congress possesses powerful tools to defend its institutional authority: hearings, subpoenas, inherent contempt, appropriations leverage, and the enforcement of war powers. These tools exist for moments precisely like this. Choosing not to use them is not neutrality—it is acquiescence. This is not a question of party. It is a question of whether Congress intends to remain a co-equal branch of government or accept a diminished role as a spectator to executive overreach. What is tolerated now will be cited as precedent later, regardless of who occupies the White House. History will not judge Congress by the strength of its statements, but by whether it acted when the balance of power was tested. The American people do not expect perfection. They do expect Congress to do its job. Reassert your authority. Enforce the law. Uphold the Constitution you swore to defend.