I retired after 30 years of federal employment as a low-level office manager. While I am far from being an expert on government affairs, that 30 years did teach me quite a lot about how our government works. One of the things that always fascinated, instructed, and infuriated me was the yawning gap between the literal content of legislation passed by the Legislative branch and signed into law by our President and precisely how that legislation was actually implemented by the Departments and Agencies of the federal government. It always was…and continues to be…one of those things that make you go “hmmm?”
The
erosion of our Legislative branch’s influence on governing...due to the
explosion we have witnessed in the Executive branch’s abuse of power and the
Judicial branch’s rogue idealism projected onto law...is largely due to the fact
that Congress simply does not write what it means. They
leave too much wobble in the wheel. When
legislation is passed and the directions and rules are set forth for the
administrators to roll it out, the people who command and control our
Departments and Agencies use that legislation as a guide. That legislation will use both the terms shall and may. Shall is a clear directive to the civil service contingent of our
government that they should administer this legislation according to the text associated
with it…as it is written. If the Judicial branch is asked to rule on
the matter of how it is administered, they will consider the use of the word shall as a clear directive to adhere to
the details of the legislation. If the
legislation is clearly written, there should be little debate about how it
should be performed.
If
the word may is used in the
legislation, there is a clear understanding that the government official
ultimately in charge of administering the legislation…typically a patronage appointee of the Executive branch…can use
their discretion while delivering the product. That discretion will be a result of how they
are told by their superiors…the people
who got them their job…the Executive
branch…to think and act. This opportunity
to inject personal interpretation into exactly what the legislation means leads
to actions that are tinged by politics and agenda-seeking idealism; oftentimes resulting
in a federal program that has little resemblance to the legislation that
created it. It allows the Executive
branch to, in many cases, brazenly ignore what Congress was trying to do and
twist it into a delivery vehicle for their own policy initiatives. It is a
case where the Legislative branch willfully and irresponsibly yields its
authority to the Executive branch. It
is happening far too often and the Executive branch has embraced it.
The
staffs in Congress that write the legislation are not stupid. They are intelligent and skilled people who
are very good with word composition and well understand how to write a document
that says what it means. Sometimes the
lack of detail in legislation is intentional due to compromise or necessary practical
flexibility designed to meet varied circumstances. Other times, legislation is left open to
interpretation because Congress is unwilling to do the heavy lifting involved
in researching, debating, and writing a clear document that specifically
describes their intent. It is instead a rushed, incomplete, shallow,
and arbitrary fill-in-the-blanks document intended to deliver a political message
as opposed to a federal action.
And
then there are times when the Executive branch simply ignores the legislation content
and willfully strays from its intended purpose.
In this case, the ultimate remedy lies with the Judicial branch ruling on
the legality of the Executive branch
action. The problem here is that if the
Executive branch is brazen enough to simply ignore the clear intent of Congress
and take its own and different direction, it typically takes years for the rogue Executive actions to
work their way through the court system. By the time the irresponsible Executive action
is ruled upon, the Executive branch version of the legislation has become part
and parcel of our government and is practically impossible to unwind.
This
perversion of our nation’s government and constitution has increasingly led us
to a place where autocratic executive actions by the president create results
that have no clear connection to what Congress intended in the first place. In a very real sense, it has tilted the
balance of power from the Legislative branch to the Executive branch and has
eroded the ability of voters to influence their government through local
elections. It has moved our nation to a point where many times, our President
appears more like a King than a Chief Executive.
If our nation’s government is ever
going to regain its function according to the constitutional blueprint laid out
by our founders, the Congress must reassert its authority and standing as an
equal partner to the Executive branch. It must use its power to write clear,
distinct, and considered legislation and it must use its oversight authorities
to monitor and address the incidence of Executive branch over-reach and abuse
of power. Senators and Representatives are
our true connections to government because they are closer to us. They come from our home states and our
communities. They should be our true advocates in Washington, DC because they are
one of us. They are elected by their
neighbors; not by the nation. These are
the people who should be deciding how our government functions and what it
addresses. The President should simply
be the person implementing those ideals.
Congress must get back to using SHALL
and refrain from using MAY. The Constitution has given them the power
necessary to do their job; but if they continue to equivocate and allow the
Executive branch to walk over them, this and every future President will
continue to usurp their rightful place in our government. Now…on to the happenings of today…………
America’s economic health
is in a serious condition. No one seems
to have a good handle on inflation or interest rates, the various statistics
involving employment and wages make no sense at all, our government is taxing
and spending at record levels, and our financial institutions (both federal and private) seem to be
focused on everything other than the mathematics that provide a solid fiscal
foundation. How do you manage your
budget in times like these? Where do you
put your money in times like these? I used
to laugh when my brother-in-law told me to be “paid up, prayed up, and have a full clip”. I’m not laughing anymore.
https://www.axios.com/2023/03/14/february-consumer-price-index-inflation
https://www.nationalreview.com/2023/03/there-will-be-no-soft-landing/
https://reason.com/2023/03/14/inflation-isnt-going-away/
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/why-government-spending-makes-us-poorer/
https://reason.com/2023/03/21/the-budget-battle-book/
https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/21/homes/existing-home-sales-february
https://reason.com/2023/03/17/federal-employees-dont-like-paying-taxes-either/
When
government and business and educators forget why they exist and what their
functions are, trouble ensues…
https://amgreatness.com/2023/03/18/the-college-debt-relief-swindle/
https://amgreatness.com/2023/03/21/bidens-proposed-fy-2024-budget-too-woke-and-too-expensive/
https://amgreatness.com/2023/03/14/when-banks-and-other-institutions-try-to-change-the-world/
Banks
had better stick to balance sheets and stay away from social experimentation…
https://nypost.com/2023/03/17/why-woke-frisco-fed-chief-missed-silicon-valley-banks-warning-signs/
Who’s
watching the watchmen???
America’s educational system
continues to swirl out of control as radicals create new
and insane policies, concerned parents battle to gain input into their local schools,
government and administrators encourage wokeness, and fundamental principles of learning
are being ignored. The residents are in
charge of the asylum.
Leave
it to the Bee to bring some levity to this mess: https://babylonbee.com/news/striking-los-angeles-teachers-threaten-to-return-to-classrooms-if-demands-not-met
This
is acceptable… https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/brown-university-students-to-host-senior-chinese-official-implicated-in-hong-kong-crackdowns/
While
this is not… https://www.nationalreview.com/the-weekend-jolt/whos-in-charge-at-college-campuses/
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/03/inside-stanfords-disgrace-judge-duncan-speaks.php
https://amgreatness.com/2023/03/19/what-happened-to-stanford/
The
trend of censorship is not just surging at Stanford…look around a bit…it is becoming pervasive and insidious…
Suppression
of civil dissent and protest is apparently only acceptable if the government and the liberal community find it agreeable…
https://amgreatness.com/2023/03/20/the-death-of-dissent/
https://www.newsweek.com/americans-deserve-know-who-funded-blm-riots-opinion-1787460
Thanks
to Mitch McConnell, Merrick Garland lost out on his chance to seed mischief at
the Supreme Court of the United States.
He now spends his time running a circus at the Department of Justice (DOJ).
When it comes to the DOJ and federal law enforcement, the ish runs
downhill from there. Instituting their system of dual justice
systems (one for Republicans and one for
Democrats), the Democrats continue to pursue their white whale (Trump) while ignoring the rotting corpse
of the corrupt Biden Family Enterprise.
https://amgreatness.com/2023/03/14/a-spill-of-fbi-secrets/
https://thefederalist.com/2023/03/20/arresting-trump-an-end-of-america-watch-party/
https://amgreatness.com/2023/03/21/joe-biden-guilty-of-foul-deeds/
Do
you think this is a good time to have a President that is owned by China: https://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/another-red-line-breached/
Election mania
is upon us:
https://www.axios.com/2023/03/12/senate-republicans-flawed-candidates-2024
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/03/is-ukraine-desantiss-first-big-mistake.php
https://www.dailywire.com/news/welp-bidens-phony-baloney-right-wing-pivot-is-here
https://amgreatness.com/2023/03/20/a-feared-repeat/
https://amgreatness.com/2023/03/21/realigning-california-would-realign-america/
Biden’s open border policy
continues to spiral out of control:
Climatistas and the Green
Revolutionaries still advocate lunacy:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/15/climate-crisis-what-climate-crisis-part-one-the-evidence/
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/03/why-wind-and-solar-will-never-work-2.php
A potpourri of articles that
reflect our society and culture:
A
tragic chapter in American history: https://reason.com/2023/03/21/the-great-covid-rupture/
Chasing
the liberal dream: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/restoring-america/faith-freedom-self-reliance/single-payer-healthcare-is-not-the-solution
An
interesting concept: https://reason.com/2023/03/19/the-zoning-theory-of-everything/
The
truth can sometimes be painful: https://thefederalist.com/2023/03/17/woke-effectively-describes-the-lefts-insanity-and-thats-why-they-hate-when-you-say-it/
It
is always a good time to read Victor
David Hanson: https://amgreatness.com/2023/03/16/are-we-the-byzantines/
Karma
continues to be a bitch: https://www.nationalreview.com/news/this-is-ridiculous-cnn-crew-in-san-fran-targeted-by-thieves-while-doing-story-on-rampant-crime/
Closing out with a couple of good
tunes….enjoy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUUdQfnshJ4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7VgstsVS44
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