Occasionally I attempt, however quixotically, to explain the whys and wherefores of the all-powerful “Administrative State,” as I call it — in which a maze of alphabet-soup federal agencies, run by faceless, unaccountable bureaucrats, attempt to govern our lives.
One reason the Administrative State has grown so large is because the underlying foundation of the Constitution — the “Separation of Powers” doctrine — has dramatically changed. That doctrine clearly states that the Legislative Branch makes the laws, the Executive Branch enforces the laws and the Judicial Branch determines the constitutionality of the laws.
Today, however, the Executive Branch, which runs the Administrative State (almost all federal bureaucracies are part of the Executive Branch) has assumed many of the legislative powers and responsibilities originally vested in the Legislative Branch (Congress), and — believe it or not — oftentimes Congress facilitates this executive assumption of its powers. Why? Because when federal bureaucracies assume Congress’s legislative functions, those bureaucracies also assume the blame for their negative effects.
Take, for example, the goal of improving air quality through legislation that reduces carbon dioxide. Alas, as with all legislation, air-quality legislation produces winners and losers, and oftentimes the losers represent powerful interests that don’t take kindly to legislation that negatively affects their livelihood. Passing legislation to improve air quality will certainly harm the coal industry — coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel — and it will also hurt the railroad industry because transporting coal by rail is a good part of that industry’s business. Meaning that members of Congress who supported such legislation could soon face two powerful constituencies intent on ensuring they aren’t re-elected.
Which is why, when Congress passes any law that negatively affects a major constituency, Congress makes sure the law’s language is as vague and milquetoast as possible. Regarding air quality, this enables Congress to pass the buck to the bureaucrats in the Environmental Protection Agency, who, because the law’s language is so vague, can enforce the law as they see fit, which they do through regulations that they basically create out of whole cloth.
Thus, unelected EPA bureaucrats, who aren’t nearly as vulnerable to the wrath of the coal and railroad industries as are members of Congress, assume almost universal powers to achieve the goal of improving air quality. EPA’s rules and regulations may be confusing and inefficient, but Congress is off the hook.
Of course, in an amusingly ironic attempt to “keep up appearances,” very often these same members of Congress, who willingly abdicated this power to these bureaucrats, subsequently hold congressional hearings in which these bureaucrats are hauled before congressional committees to be lectured on how their confusing, inefficient rules and regulations are hurting both the workers and the customers (read voters) of the coal and railroad industries!
