Unelected bureaucrats are running our lives

[Bigun]

Unelected bureaucrats are running our lives


Glenn Harlan Reynolds, Opinion columnist Published 6:02 a.m. ET June 12, 2017 | Updated 10 hours ago



You didn’t give these clowns power. They just grabbed it.

Watching the ongoing clown show in Washington, Americans can be forgiven for asking themselves, “Why did we give this bunch of clowns so very much power over our nation and our lives?”

Well, don’t feel so bad, voters. Because you didn’t actually give them that much power. They just took it. That’s the thesis of Columbia Law Professor Philip Hamburger’s new book, The Administrative Threat, a short, punchy followup to his magisterial Is Administrative Law Unlawful? Both deal with the extraordinary — and illegitimate — power that administrative agencies have assumed in American life.

Excerpt: Much more at link https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/06/12/unelected-bureaucrats-running-our-lives-glenn-reynolds-column/102750080/

[Bigun]

THIS ladies and gentlemen is THE biggest threat we face in America today!

[andy58-in-nh]

We are perhaps agreed on the nature of the problem.

But administrative agency bureaucrats did not just "grab" power.

It was given to them.

It was willfully given by Presidents who stood to politically benefit from the expansion of Executive branch power. But also, and perhaps more importantly: it was ceded by Congresses that refused to assert their Constitutional right to check such power by prescribing the scope and reach of Executive agencies via legislation. 

[Suppressed]

But administrative agency bureaucrats did not just "grab" power.

It was given to them.

It was willfully given by Presidents who stood to politically benefit from the expansion of Executive branch power. But also, and perhaps more importantly: it was ceded by Congresses that refused to assert their Constitutional right to check such power by prescribing the scope and reach of Executive agencies via legislation.

Exactly right. And the electorate sat by and didn't care. Letting go of the reins and then complaining when the horses bolt is rather childish and irresponsible.

[Bigun]

We are perhaps agreed on the nature of the problem.

But administrative agency bureaucrats did not just "grab" power.

It was given to them.

It was willfully given by Presidents who stood to politically benefit from the expansion of Executive branch power. But also, and perhaps more importantly: it was ceded by Congresses that refused to assert their Constitutional right to check such power by prescribing the scope and reach of Executive agencies via legislation.

@andy58-in-nh

I agree with every word you wrote!  I didn't write the article but thought it might provide a good vehicle for brining the issue to light.

[endicom]

We are perhaps agreed on the nature of the problem.

But administrative agency bureaucrats did not just "grab" power.

It was given to them.

It was willfully given by Presidents who stood to politically benefit from the expansion of Executive branch power. But also, and perhaps more importantly: it was ceded by Congresses that refused to assert their Constitutional right to check such power by prescribing the scope and reach of Executive agencies via legislation.

The agencies do effectively legislate while congress writes the checks. What could be better,eh?

[andy58-in-nh]

The agencies do effectively legislate while congress writes the checks. What could be better,eh?

Saddling the taxpayers with the debt they have incurred while relying upon the votes of a dependent beneficiary class to make bureaucratic rule immune from reform.

[bigheadfred]

My older brother is one of them. Says he hates it all. But I haven't seen him try to better himself by looking for a private sector job coming on 25 years.

[andy58-in-nh]

My older brother is one of them. Says he hates it all. But I haven't seen him try to better himself by looking for a private sector job coming on 25 years.

Why would he want to? The private sector pays more poorly, offers no job security, and mandates performance.

[Suppressed]

Why would he want to? The private sector pays more poorly, offers no job security, and mandates performance.

LOL! Perhaps for a cushy federal job.  I took a 40% pay cut when I moved from private sector to government.

Why would I do that?  Partly because I wanted to serve, and I couldn't do military service.  But too often, conservatives (and I was one, myself) have some false perceptions about government jobs.

[andy58-in-nh]

LOL! Perhaps for a cushy federal job.  I took a 40% pay cut when I moved from private sector to government.

Why would I do that?  Partly because I wanted to serve, and I couldn't do military service.  But too often, conservatives (and I was one, myself) have some false perceptions about government jobs.

http://freebeacon.com/issues/study-government-workers-make-78-percent-more-than-private-sector/

Have you been to the Washington, D.C. environs lately? Especially the Maryland and Virginia suburbs where government workers live. I work with their pension and defined contribution plans, and the benefits often dwarf their salaries, which are not inconsiderable.  Meanwhile, many of us in the private sector have seen our wages stagnate for twenty years or more, and job security is nonexistent. Increasingly, they are different worlds.