The EPA answers to no one.
It routinely defies orders from Federal Judges with no consequence. It also routinely defies Congress, the EPA's very source of power since Congress created the EPA and controls all funds directed to the agency. Yet it has come to view itself as a superior and independent power, ignoring any Judicial or Congressional directives it happens to find inconvenient. To date, not a single EPA administrator has wound up in prison for their utter defiance of the law.
The IRS is no different. As we've seen recently they are able to flaunt the law with no consequence and Congress seems powerless to rein them in. Both the FBI and the CIA have been in the spotlight recently as well. They too operate in the shadows far beyond the law and appear to function by their own sets of rules with no oversight. Agencies such as OSHA have so far managed to avoid the bright spotlight of the press but they are no better. The list is long and ugly. There is no shortage of examples of abuse of power, the press only has so much time to squeeze in examples of abuse per telecast hour.
It's easy to make a case for abuse of power. For decades we've been complaining about government agencies run amok, and complaining most loudly each time another ugly example surfaces. But it's much worse than straightforward abuse of power. These government agencies have evolved into something larger and more alarming - they have become their own governments.
They create their own rules and law. Any attempt at oversight is rebuffed at their whim. We might as well be dealing with North Korea. Neither Congress nor Federal Judges can cross the moat they have carefully built around their castle walls.
They have become their own governments.
