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The alternative is familiar. Decisions dissolve into internal review. Rules fail to appear. Protections weaken quietly. Priorities shift without acknowledgment. The public feels the effects without seeing the cause. Over time, this breeds cynicism and reinforces the belief that government operates beyond reach.
What makes this moment distinct is growing awareness. The public is beginning to recognize that the most consequential decisions are not always made on the Senate floor or announced from podiums. They are often made in offices where silence is the default outcome. Absence becomes policy. Delay becomes veto.
Washington has no shortage of visible conflict. What remains less visible—but no less powerful—is the quiet machinery that decides which ideas are allowed to exist at all. As attention turns toward that machinery, Americans may come to understand that the most decisive power in government is not always the kind that announces itself, but the kind that operates so quietly its impact is only noticed when something is missing.