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Why the Administrative State Should Matter to Intercessors
These days, the majority of our rules and regulations come from unelected federal bureaucrats, not elected lawmakers. This article, written by former Speaker Newt Gingrich, explains why.
From The Federalist. Remember the “Schoolhouse Rock!” videos? There’s one with a cartoon figure of a bill sitting on the steps of Capitol Hill explaining how our federal legislative process works …
Have you taken your place on the wall?
It’s a wonderful introduction to our system of government. But for all the video gets right, there’s an anomaly at its core. The video follows the progress of a long-languishing bill designed to require school buses to stop at railroad crossings. At last and with much pride, the bill finally succeeds in becoming a law. As it happens, though, we have no specific federal law like that. Instead, we have an agency rule, one issued by the Department of Transportation and buried deep within the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 49, Section 392.10, to be exact.
The truth about “Schoolhouse Rock!” illustrates another notable feature of our law today. Not only have the last few decades witnessed a shift in power from local to federal authorities, but even within Washington, a dramatic transfer of power has taken place from elected representatives to unelected agency officials. These days, federal agencies don’t just enforce the laws Congress writes; they also engage in activities that look a lot like legislating and judging. …
The sheer scale of agency output is staggering. Remember all those laws that Congress passed in the 1960s and 1970s? Many of them authorized the creation of powerful new federal agencies with vast new powers; federal regulatory output has exploded ever since. Take one recent year by way of illustration. In 2015, Congress adopted about one hundred laws. The same year, federal agencies issued 3,378 final rules and published another 2,334 proposed rules. …
You might ask how we got so recently and so quickly to a point where unelected bureaucrats can make so many legally binding rules covering so many aspects of our lives. Well, the story’s complicated. Small pieces of it fill long books, and we cannot begin to capture it all. But even a quick glimpse back tells quite a tale.
Not long after the Constitution’s ratification, Congress took up a debate about the new nation’s postal system. … One of the questions Congress faced concerned where to site a number of new postal routes. Should the route from Taunton to Newport go through Warren and Bristol or some other towns? How about the route from Baltimore to Hagerstown? One congressman, Massachusetts’s Theodore Sedgwick, found the whole affair silly. Why not, he proposed, simply appropriate funds for roads “by such route as the President of the United States shall, from time to time, Cause to be established?”
You might think that an eminently sensible solution. But some congressmen, including Madison, no less, protested that the proposal would improperly delegate legislative power to the executive branch. … In the end, the Postal Act of 1792 gave the postmaster discretion on many fronts, but it also contained a long and dreary recitation of postal routes.
Today, the postal route debate seems a world away. Few think the Constitution requires Congress to decide details like that. Surely, too, our agencies have much to offer when it comes to advising Congress about making new laws and administering old ones. But the episode does offer some sense of how far we have traveled from the debates of Madison’s day to our own. In Article I of our Constitution, the people vested “All” federal “legislative Powers . . . in a Congress.” A few decades after the postal route debate, Chief Justice John Marshall wrote for the Supreme Court that this assignment means “important subjects” must be “entirely regulated by the legislature itself,” while Congress may leave “details” (like postal routes) for other officials “to fill up.” …
But it has been decades since our courts have done much to enforce that rule. And perhaps thanks in part to that omission, the pendulum has swung toward far-reaching delegations of legislative authority to agency officials. These days, Congress sometimes leaves agencies to write legally binding rules with little more guidance than “go forth and do good.” Laws tell agencies to regulate as “the public interest, convenience, or necessity” requires; others task them with setting “fair and equitable” prices; still others authorize agencies to determine “just and reasonable rate[s].” … Thanks to broad delegations like these, agencies can write, change, and change again rules affecting millions of Americans — all without any input from Congress. …
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(Excerpt from The Federalist. Photo Credit: AgnosticPreachersKid – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9440313)
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Comments
The federal agencies are the deep state and all rules they write are unconstitutional for only the legislative branch can write and pass laws. Congress can’t give that power to any federal agency. So I believe that all the deep state rules are not enforceable. Solution all previous rules are void and need to go through congress before enforceable, any new rules written by any federal agency must also go through congress, congress needs to remove 2 laws before passing a new one, and any law must not have amendments that are not directly related to stated objective of the law, all bills and laws must be read by the elected representative and senator before being voted on not their aids the aids are not elected by the people and all laws must be written following God’s laws. There should be a finite number of laws that govern us God gave us 10 and if we would live by those 10 their would be no need for the hundreds or thousands being written. If God doesn’t micromanage our lives why should the government. Trust in God
🙏😇🙏
Wow! And yes I witness all these changes occurring to benefit one’s own hatred for a cause or person or group.
It’s evil and evident nowadays and our government has gotten way too big and corrupt.
Great article. Lord, by your great mercy and grace, make a way for the federal government and its overreaching agencies to be reigned in. May the rights of the state governments be returned to their proper juristiction. Thank You, Jesus.
So what exactly, are the congressional branches concentrating on now? I’m praying the focus will be back to making this a nation under God again.
Heavenly Father, we have been overrun with misuse and abuse of implementing rules and laws. Where sin abounds and has been celebrated, hearts need radically changed. We turn our eyes upward. Thank You, Father, for the great and steadfast love to this nation. You alone have kept her. We look to You for wisdom and instruction. Give this nation and it’s leadership an understanding mind to govern this people. That we may discern between good and evil and so choose to DO GOOD. Who can do this apart from You? See 1 Kings 3 (Solomon’s prayer for wisdom). Guide us with obedient hearts, we desire for this nation to be a blessing to You. LORD, direct our steps and keep us faithful. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.
The problem comes precisely with the fact that these agencies and their heads are NOT elected. This goes WAY beyond their being relieved of campaining.. Voting brings a kind of check and balance to “hidden” agencies. They have been devoid of censure for a long time. As a consequence, they have slipped into wrong doing. They act like Congressional questions are out of the question when Congress is SUPPOSED to act where there is wrong done.
What needs to happen is to change all heads of all agencies to people who can be depended upon to uphold right principles.
Very enlightening! Lord, these agencies wield a great deal of power without being elected by the people. We need Godly men and women in all places of authority within our government. Please raise up Daniels and Mordecais into places of influence in our government.
I hear too many people asking the question “How can … make laws without the People’s vote “ Great INFORMATION
LORD GOD
OUR CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT IS NO LONGER CONSTITUTIONAL OR OURS. WEHAVE BEEN SUBJECTED TO A SECRET COUP.PLEASE HELPUS RECOVER THE FREEDOM YOU GIFTED TO US AND WHICH WE’VE SQUANDERED BY MEANS OF APATHY, IGNORANCE, LAZYNESS. FORGIVE US OUR SIN AND RESTORE THIS NATION IF IT BE YOUR WILL.
I ASK IN JESUS’ NAME
AMEN
Rich, you nut.
Thanks for posting this commentary. It solidifies the fact that the average American citizen doesn’t have a clue of the Washington process. We can’t even imagine the workings of the party we support without a political science degree!! As this current election becomes the most polarized in America’s history our ONLY hope is GOD above. We mst keep our eyes on him and not succumb to the fear that He is not in control!!
Father we look, we stand firm and we bow before you this day. May your mercies be upon your country that YOU created. As we stand in this gap we decree that this gap between YOU and America will close and this will be YOUR land again !! In our beloved Jesus name we pray and because of the power of his blood we stand against the evil one seeking to destroy!! Amen and Hallelujah !!
Oh Lord, sometimes it seems that whenever there is any wrongdoing, another law or ordinance is passed to prevent or circumvent its reoccerence. Often these laws and regulations erode or even take away our freedoms and responsibilities as ambassadors of your kingdom. We bind the deceptions of the administrative state and decree your freedoms and responsibilities are necessary for promotion of your gospel and ask your wisdom for our future. Inspire and guide those in authority according to your plans. In your Holy name, Amen.