It’s the Constitution, Stupid

Pop Quiz

What famous surgeon said: “I started reading about people of great accomplishment… and it dawned on me suddenly that the person who has the most to do with what happens in your life is you.”?

What political observer noted: “Spending is not caring. Spending is what politicians do instead of caring. Spending more does not guarantee success. Politicians like to measure spending because it is easier than measuring actual metrics of accomplishment.”?

What American inventor said: “Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.”?

What US President said: “Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.”?

What international leader said: “Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.”?

Answers at the end of the post

In the last post we noted that the Federal government is populated almost exclusively by people of little or no real world achievement. President Houseplant was first elected to office in Washington in 1972. He has, inexplicably, remained entrenched in the Washington swamp for more than 50 years and it is mission impossible to identify any significant achievement of Senor Biden during that period. And yet he is immensely wealthy despite producing nothing of value. He is living proof that personal accomplishment and achievement are not required to secure (and abuse) the levers of power and authority.

To further make the point try compiling a list of the non-elective accomplishments of Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Adam Schiff, Eric Swalwell, Mayor Pete and Maxine Waters. JB Pritzker and Dan Goldman made their money the hard way…inheriting a family fortune. AOC topped out as an over-educated mixologist. The question is: What qualified these mediocrities to manage our lives through government diktats?

Recently Elon Musk has suggested that we should replace the foolish employment mantra Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with MEI…Merit, Excellence and Intelligence. Apply that standard to the US Congress and it would be impossible to generate a quorum for the passage of any legislation. That is an exhilarating thought!

However there is no evidence that the US electorate is capable of identifying, let alone voting for, individuals who are qualified either by merit, excellence or intelligence. We must remember H.L. Mencken’s irrefutable maxim: You will never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American voters.

As we have noted on several occasions the over-arching purpose our Constitution is to make difficult, if not impossible, to concentrate power at the national level. The concept is actually fairly simple. Article 1 states that “all legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress…”. All federal laws are to be enacted by Congress. Article 2 vests executive power in a President of the United States. The executive branch enforces the laws duly enacted by Congress and signed into law by the President. . Article 3 vests judicial power in one supreme court and other inferior courts as may be established by Congress. These courts provide the guardrails to ensure that the laws and the enforcement of those laws are within the strictures set forth in the Constitution. The authors of that document did not anticipate that Congress would abdicate its Constitutional role by allowing the creation of an unelected, uncontrolled and massive administrative state. Our administrative state would make Mary Shelley proud.

We must take action to diminish the power of the Federal Leviathan that we have passively allowed to evolve in Washington.

Step One

On January 21, 2025, five minutes after President Trump is inaugurated for his second term he should announce the appointment of Vivek Ramaswamy as the Secretary of Downsizing. We propose the following as the 12 labors of Hercules Ramaswamy:

1. Eviscerate the administrative state, the 21st century equivalent of the Aegean Stables. There are more than two million non-military Federal employees. About 15% of those employees make a serious and positive contribution to the national welfare. The balance should be removed from the federal employment rolls with the caveat that they cannot be hired by either a state or a local government.

2. The Department of Education should be abolished. This white elephant was a bribe confected by Jimmy Carter to ensure that the teacher unions will provide political and financial sustenance to the Democrat Party in perpetuity. There is no extant evidence of a single positive accomplishment perpetrated by the DOE. Oversight of our government schools should revert to the state and local administrators. This would be consistent with the concept of federalism as embodied by the Constitution.

3. The Department of Energy should be eliminated. This Federal boondoggle has contributed nothing to the energy market basket except increased costs. Private industry will, as it has throughout history, make the system work. Solyndra is the poster child of the failure of Federal ability to manage any serious project.

4, The Department of Agriculture should be moved closer to those who avail themselves of the agency’s services, i.e. the farmers who feed America. Move the head office to Topeka Kansas. This would cause an instant reduction of the work force because the Ivy League denizens of the Deapartment would refuse to live or work near people they hold in such low esteem.

5. The Department of the Interior should be moved to Casper, Wyoming which is within spitting distance of Yellowstone National Park. The buffalo would appreciate the hands-on management. It would be great fun to watch some Harvard graduate try to take a selfie with a bear cub while Mamma bear lurks in the background.

6. Move Customs and Border Patrol headquarters to El Paso, Texas. It would wonderful to observe the great awakening of employees who suddenly have to live with the results of their foolish policies. Imagine their surprise when they discover that we really do have a self-inflicted border crisis.

7. Require Congress to pass a stand alone budget for each Federal department and agency and require a year-end accounting of all spending to ensure that expenditures are fully explained and consistent with the mandate for that agency.

8. Ban the passage of all “omnibus” spending bills and, in addition, prohibit the inclusion of earmarked spending in any Federal budget legislation.

9. Codify the repeal of the Chevron decision and require that each and every regulation promulgated by a Federal agency be approved by a Congressional vote. This should include the Trump administration practice of requiring the repeal of, say, ten regulations for every new one that is proposed.

10. Decentralize the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This top heavy organization of mischief makers has become a political tool of the entrenched bureaucracy and has tampered with every election in the 21st Century. It is not a stretch of the imagination to argue that such tampering is an existential threat to the democracy that the Democrats are bent on destroying. No respectable organization can be taken seriously when the likes of James Comey and Christopher Ray can be levitated to positions of leadership.

11. The Department of Justice must be made more transparent and accountable. All hires should be given ten year terms and at the end of that period they must leave the DOJ unless they are working on an open case. The sign over the door of every DOJ office should proclaim: Justice not politics. And how about we kill the proposed new FBI headquarters or, as a minimum, require that Trump be in charge of the design and construction.

12. All DEI programs should be terminated forthwith and all personnel decisions should be based on MEI…Merit, Excellence and Intelligence. If implemented there will be no Democrats left in Washington.

Step Two

Congress must be returned to what the founders intended it to be. Congress was to be a legislative body populated by concerned citizens performing a public service rather than professional office holders suckling at the public teat. Here are few suggested corrective actions:

1. Term limits: No member of Congress shall serve for more than 12 years. Congressional sessions should be limited to 5 months a year from May 1 to September 30. There shall be no pensions available for those who serve in Congress.
2. There should be a strict limit on outside income earned by members of Congress and their families. Prior to being sworn in each prospective member of Congress must declare their net worth with appropriate documentation. At the end of their term in office they must submit a current net worth statement. 90% of any increase in net worth must be paid to the US Treasury. Serving in Congress should not be seen as a personal piggy bank.
3. Salaries for all members of Congress shall be suspended whenever there is an annual budget deficit. No balanced checkbook, no income. If there is a national crisis that directly causes a deficit then this provision shall be temporarily suspended.
4. Congress shall be governed by all laws and regulations that apply to citizens and businesses in the United States. Any budget increases for any Federal department or agency shall not exceed the rate of inflation for the preceding twelve months. That worked when the Gingrich Congress applied the principle under Monica’s boyfriend Bill Clinton. It was the last time we generated a budget surplus…look it up, we are not kidding.

Step Three

In 1976 Congress passed the National Emergencies Act which granted to the executive branch the power to abuse power and they have taken full advantage of the loophole. Since the enactment of this get out of jail free card 79 national emergencies have been declared. Many of these declared “emergencies” remain in effect. In addition, Presidents routinely issue Executive Orders which are not specifically authorized by the Constitution. George Washington served for eight years and issued eight executive orders. The first executive order was issued by Washington on June 8, 1789; It was addressed to the heads of the federal departments instructing them “to impress [him] with a full, precise, and distinct general idea of the affairs of the United States” in their fields. Probably the last sensible Executive ever enacted.

As mentioned in the last post Theodore Roosevelt, our first Progressive President, forever changed the Federal landscape…for the worse. TR issued 1,081 executive orders almost five times the previous high for a presidential administration. His cousin FDR issued 3,721 such orders which was a symptom of his megalomania. Since FDR no President issued more than 381. This practice must be reigned in. Going forward every executive order shall expire within thirty days unless specifically extended by both houses of Congress.

Moving Forward

As usual the Democrats are aiming at the wrong target. There is endless chatter about existential threats to democracy. To paraphrase James Carville, the Charon of the Democrat Party, “it’s the Constitution stupid.” The Biden administration is an existential threat to the Constitution, We must remember the three greatest accomplishments of Donald Trump: Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Witness the opinions handed down in the last several weeks.

To paraphrase Paul Ehrlich: Giving legislative power to the members of the Squad is the equivalent of giving an idiot child a machine gun.

From our Believe or Not Department

Our embarrassment of a president was asked if he had Parkinson’s disease and his razor sharp mind dropped this gumball on his tongue: “I tested negative for Covid.” Little did we know that Covid and Parkinson’s are the same thing.

When Chicago mayor Let’s Go Brandon Johnson was asked to explain why 100 citizens of the Windy City were shot over one weekend (17 killed) he blamed Richard Nixon…say what? There has apparently been a new outbreak of Nixon Derangement Syndrome. Mask up and call Anthony Fauci, our national Karen.

Answers to the Pop Quiz:

What famous surgeon said: “I started reading about people of great accomplishment… and it dawned on me suddenly that the person who has the most to do with what happens in your life is you.”? Pediatric surgeon Ben Carson who reportedly knows what a woman is

What political observer noted: “Spending is not caring. Spending is what politicians do instead of caring. Spending more does not guarantee success. Politicians like to measure spending because it is easier than measuring actual metrics of accomplishment.”? Anti-tax enthusiast Grover Norquist

What American inventor said: “Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.”? Thomas Edison

What US President said: “Because power corrupts, society’s demands for moral authority and character increase as the importance of the position increases.”? John Adams

What international leader said: “Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.”? Former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir