Politics & Power Quote by Michael K. Simpson

The telling part is the verb: “run.” America, in this framing, is less a polity than a platform, and government’s job is to clear the runway. Michael K. Simpson’s line is classic late-20th/early-21st century Republican rhetoric, built to sound practical rather than ideological: who could be against “making America a better place” or cutting “costly burdens”? The craft is in the stacking of soft, consensus nouns (“better place,” “burdens”) with a pair of villain words that don’t require specifics to land: “bureaucracy and red tape.” They’re shorthand for faceless incompetence, which lets the speaker promise relief without naming which protections, agencies, or rules would be trimmed.

The intent is coalition politics. By centering “business” instead of “workers” or “families,” Simpson signals to employers, chambers of commerce, and donors that Congress should prioritize competitiveness and compliance costs. The phrase “working in Congress” adds a procedural gloss, implying diligence and legitimacy, while quietly shifting responsibility away from private actors and toward the state as the obstacle.

Subtext: regulation is presumed guilty until proven innocent. “Costly” smuggles in an economic metric as the main measure of good governance, sidelining the non-market reasons rules exist: workplace safety, environmental limits, consumer protections, financial oversight. In the post-NAFTA, post-deregulation political climate, and especially after waves of backlash against federal agencies, this language functions as a reassuring code to constituents who feel hemmed in by Washington and to industries that want fewer constraints. It’s not an argument; it’s a frame: prosperity equals less government, and Congress is the tool to subtract.