Who's in Charge of America
Frank Victoria
Political Thriller Author of award winning The Founders’ Plot. Novellas. Screenwriter for RomCom, Fantasy. Las Vegas was a favorite—enjoys blackjack, craps, and poker accompanied by the perfect vodka or margarita. Ole!
You may think the President and Congress run this country. And you’re partially right. They pass laws, appoint federal judges, approve cabinet members. etc. etc. But who actually controls our government?
Bureaucrats!
Actually “non-elected” bureaucrats! They head up dozens of agencies with various title like administrators and secretaries and they affect your lives every day. It’s what commonly known as the “administrative state.” These bureaucrats have established their own little fiefdoms and wield powers they shouldn’t have.
The EPA, for instance, can decide if a big puddle of water on a farm is a “wetland” (what we used to call a swamp) and the farmer can’t touch it. They can determine that an endangered small fish called a snail darter can prevent a dam being built. Their regulations can discourage entrepreneurs who want to start businesses because of all the bureaucratic red tape they have to deal with.
I’m not condemning all government regulations. But I’d much prefer that these decisions be made by elected lawmakers who can be tossed out in the next election. They can be held accountable by their voters.
Moreover, as bureaucracy increases, your freedoms are lessened. The Founders foresaw this danger. That’s why the first line in the Preamble states that “All legislative powers herein shall be vested a congress in the United States which shall consist in a Senate and? House of Representatives.”
The operative word is “all,” not just some. Only Congress can make the nation’s laws and it should not pass this power to a bureaucracy. That’s how this country operated for most of its first hundred years.
So, what happened?
It started with Woodrow Wilson who was elected in 1912. (See my two blogs on Wilson on my website: FrankVictoriaAuthor.com). He didn’t even try to convince Americans about his ideas about big government, he just put the lawmaking powers of congress into the hands of bureaucrats.
Franklin Roosevelt took it from there. He created an alphabet soup of agencies that greatly swelled the administrative state. And from then on unelected government administrators assumed powers they should never have gotten.
So, what’s to be done? For openers, Congress should take responsibility for the legislation it passes. It should end legal immunity for bureaucrats who abuse their power. If they know they can lose their jobs or be sued, they’ll be a lot more serious about imposing rules that American have to live by.
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And the judiciary has to play its part, It has to follow the law. That means protecting our constitutional freedoms, including our right to representative government. No more bureaucratic rule making.
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Frank Victoria is an award-winning author and screenwriter. He’s been an Amazon bestseller with his recent book, The Founders’ Plot, a political thriller for our times. He donates proceeds of his books to Tunnels to Towers and Fisher House, helping military veterans and first responders. His novella, The Ultimate Bet and The Protectors are available on his website and Amazon. Check out his new website: FrankVictoriaAuthor.com
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