The Deconstruction – Part 2
TimeWatch Editorial
February 26, 2017
In the first part of this subject, we looked at the philosophical foundations of the plan to deconstruct the Administrative State. The phrase, “The Deconstruction of the Administrative State” was used by Steve Bannon at the CPAC meeting, the Conservative Political Action Conference held on February 23rd, 2017. But this was not the first time the term was used. As you read part one you will see the application of the term in the past. What we propose to do today is reveal how this will be accomplished.
On February 23, the DAILY KOS website published an article entitled “Bannon Admits Trump's Cabinet Nominees Were Selected To Destroy Their Agencies.” For those who might be in need for further explanation of the direction of this Deconstruction of the Administrative State, you will find the article informative. Here is some of what the article explains.
“In the clearest explanation for why nearly all of Trump’s cabinet choices are known mostly for despising and attacking the very Federal agencies they’ve been designated to lead, Bannon explained—in very clear language--that they weren't appointed to lead these agencies, but to destroy them: Atop Trump’s agenda, Bannon said, was the “deconstruction of the administrative state” — meaning a system of taxes, regulations and trade pacts that the president and his advisers believe stymie economic growth and infringe upon one’s sovereignty. “If you look at these Cabinet nominees, they were selected for a reason, and that is deconstruction,” Bannon said. He posited that Trump’s announcement withdrawing from the Trans-Pacific Partnership was “one of the most pivotal moments in modern American history.” Dartagnan, “Bannon Admits Trump's Cabinet Nominees Were Selected To Destroy Their Agencies.” THE DAILY KOS, February 23, 2017
Whether or not each one of these cabinet members will indeed “deconstruct” their departments is yet to be seen, maybe they might shrink the size and impact of their area of supervision, leaving it a shell of its former self. The thinking however is that Administrations take control of every facet of life, thus infringing upon the sovereignty of citizenship. Listen to how the article continues.
“The crippling or wholesale elimination of Federal agencies that ensure we receive such things as clean air, clean water, fair labor laws, fair housing standards, anti-discrimination laws, financial protections, food and drug safety, national education standards and the like, has been a goal of far-right “thinkers" for decades. Their rationale, propagated by corporate and industry-funded think tanks such as the Heritage Foundation, has always been that that the existence of these “unelected" agencies represents a mortal threat to American “sovereignty and self-government." This is exactly the line Bannon was peddling at CPAC today. It is delusional, right-wing garbage.” Dartagnan, “Bannon Admits Trump's Cabinet Nominees Were Selected To Destroy Their Agencies.” THE DAILY KOS, February 23, 2017
The author of the article has made a judgment regarding the wisdom of the objective. We, however, simply seek to reveal what that objective is. it is clear that the plan is to so control events that departments will not be the directors of activities, but rather as is stated in part one of this Editorial, "the executive Power shall be vested in the President." As Justice Antonin Scalia correctly observed in his Morrison v. Olson dissent, "This does not mean some of the executive power, but all of the executive power." In other words, the departments will still exist; the actual control of these areas of life will be in the hands of the President, or his immediate entourage. However, as the author of the article has explained, history has proven that departmental control is important. His point is that without it, people suffer and are not properly served. Notice how he explains that.
“The reality is that these extensions of the Executive Branch—the Department of Labor, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Education, for example-- exist to serve the interests of all the American people, performing the painstaking and complex task of regulating the very things that make all Americans’ lives worth living. They perform this function because history has clearly shown that neither the Congress nor the states are remotely up to the task of doing it. They have neither the time, the expertise, the manpower, or the ability to handle such mammoth responsibilities in a country of 330 million people.” Dartagnan, “Bannon Admits Trump's Cabinet Nominees Were Selected To Destroy Their Agencies.” THE DAILY KOS, February 23, 2017
Mr. Bannon’s wish and philosophical direction might appear to him to be efficient, but it has already been disproven as the path to authoritarianism. The writer continues:
“Bannon knows that there is no realistic substitute for these Federal agencies. When Bannon talks about dismantling the "Administrative state,” what he's really talking about is allowing corporations and industry the absolute right to do whatever they want, whenever and wherever they want, regardless of its harmful impact on American citizens. “Deconstruction," in the pie-in-the sky fevered dreams of the Heritage Foundation, means exactly what it sounds like, as the report linked above illustrates— a process by which no Agency regulation for protection of the public may occur without Congressional approval. In practice, with the current composition of the Republican-dominated Congress, this amounts to complete corporate predation, the absolute elimination of our ability as citizens to halt corporate malfeasance. In essence, he’s talking about corporate-enforced slavery, aided and abetted by a Congress corrupted through and through with corporate largesse.” Dartagnan, “Bannon Admits Trump's Cabinet Nominees Were Selected To Destroy Their Agencies.” THE DAILY KOS, February 23, 2017
As correct as the author is with regard to the results of Administrative Deconstruction, there is one element that at present is not seen. It is a desire to control everything and everyone. This has been done before. That system of government has proven to destroy rather than uplift. And in each case, it has been The United States that has been called to defend and free those citizens from the tyranny of the state. The nations, who practice this kind of control, are still our enemies even though our leadership seems to think they are our friends. Fortunately for us, we are protected by the fact that their “friendship” is nothing more than pretense. The blessings that we have received will always produce envy. Sooner or later, the leadership will realize this, or the leadership will change hands.
Cameron A. Bowen
