Continuing with a theme from last week, I want to keep looking at potential positives that could come from a second Donald Trump presidency. Again, I’m not talking about anything positive coming from that administration itself–that is beyond hope–but rather societal changes that could stem from what is about to come. Last week, I focused on how those on the Left may abandon the obstructive language of academia and therapy and we can all talk to each other like normal human beings again. This week, I’ll talk about my hope that we have serious conversations over the next four years about the scope and power of Government in this country.
Trump made it explicitly clear on the campaign trail, in public appearances since the election, and in his selections for nearly every position within the in-coming administration that he will use the powers of the federal government to punish, harass, and destroy what he believes to be his enemies. It is this rhetoric–and potential action–that should have every American questioning if the Government should have such power over our lives.
The Government we have today is not what the Founding Fathers envisioned when the drafted the Constitution and dissolved the Articles of Confederation. While the Constitution provided for a stronger central government than the Articles, it still placed relatively few powers within the realm of the feds, and still left much of the governance up to the states themselves. This was the result of a great compromise between those like Alexander Hamilton and John Adams–who believed more power should lie in the hands of those at the federal level, and Thomas Jefferson and James Madison–who still wanted greater state-by-state control.
Consider that our first President, George Washington, had four members in his Cabinet. There was a Secretary of State, a Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, and the Attorney General. If it seems like that wasn’t enough people to oversee Government, keep in mind that outside of the Postal Service, there was no other Government to oversee. Andrew Jackson had just six cabinet members–adding the Postmaster and the Secretary of the Navy. Again, Government was still incredibly small, and required limited oversight.
The turning point in the growth of the US Government was approval of the approval of the 16th Amendment granting the federal government the power to levy an income tax. Suddenly, Washington had a much greater supply of cash on hand to start doing more things. Departments were added year after year including Commerce, Labor, Agriculture, and the interior. Franklin Roosevelt was the first to have a ten-person cabinet. And it was under Roosevelt that the bureaucracy grew exponentially with the Public Works Act, Social Security, Agricultural subsidies, and labor relations. Lyndon Johnson took that to a new level with the creation of departments like Housing, Health, and Urban Development. Another explosive growth came in the Jimmy Carter administration with the creation of the Department of Education.
Today, President Joe Biden has a 15-member Cabinet overseeing a Government spending $6.75-TRILLION a year and a workforce of two-million civilians, and two-point-five million military personnel. If Washington or Madison were to walk into one of those meetings today, they would likely think “What the hell are all of these people doing here?”
Before you think that this is some endorsement of the ludicrous Department of Government Efficiency (laughably abbreviated as “DOGE”) and the Elon Musk/Vivek Ramaswamy plan to trim federal bloat, keep in mind that those two are NOT coming at their work from an angle of making Government work better. Instead, they are looking to disable the Government’s ability to regulate the industries that they profit from. If “DOGE” was actually made up of Constitutional scholars, economists, and political scientists, it might actually get my backing.
But our conversation about the scope of Government today does not need to be limited to just what is done in Washington. You need not look any further than your local school district to find examples of “trying to do too much”. Public schools today serve not as places of learning, but rather as “feeding centers”, clothiers, mental health centers, technology providers, pharmacies, and daycare centers.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the administrative positions in America’s public schools have grown by 88% since 2000. The number of principals has grown by 37%. All of this growth in the offices has come while the actual number of students in the classrooms have increased by less than 8%–and are on a declining trend this decade. If you think those numbers are outrageous, consider that administrative positions on college campuses increased by 164% since 1976–while others listed as “professionals” increased by 452%–all while student enrollment on campuses grew by 78%–and are, again, declining this decade.
But enough about the scope of government at all levels. Let’s consider the expansion of power within the government–and in particular, the Executive Branch.
Back to the Founding Fathers for a moment. It is no accident that in the Articles detailing the operations of the Federal government list the duties and powers of the Legislative Branch–or Congress–first. Like the First Amendment guaranteeing the right to free speech, assembly, petition, and religious practice, the Founders regarded the operation of Congress as the main form of Federal governance. Being the most-representative of the branches, they wanted it to control the passage of regulation, the approval of treaties, and the spending of money. The Presidency–while also endowed with its own powers and privileges was second in nature. It existed mainly to administer the policies and laws passed by Congress and to oversee the day-to-day operations of central government.
Today, that balance of power has swung far to the side of the White House. Congress has not completed all the steps of the appropriations process since 1996. That is 28-years of continuing resolutions and omnibus packages that, for the most part, included just simple percentage increases in all spending, contained pork barrel projects slipped into bills with non-budget related matters, or giant spending packages like the American Rescue Plan Act or the grossly-misnamed Inflation Reduction Act.
Presidents have funded military actions through budget transfers, changed major federal policies by executive action, and chosen to ignore laws on the books if they feel they should not be enforced. And while Democrats cheered such moves by Presidents Obama and Biden, they now see that power as an existential threat under President Trump.
And it won’t just be Trump exercising his power of the pen for four years. Every bloated division of the Executive Branch will be at his disposal: The FBI, the CIA, Homeland Security, the National Security Administration, the Pentagon, the IRS, and the Attorney General’s office–all with expanded powers and authorities bestowed upon them by Congressional action and judicial decisions over the past decades.
And if Trump is able to executive the sinister sounding “Schedule F” of the Project 2025 Plan put forth by the Heritage Foundation, all of the remaining government agencies: The Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Bureau of Labor, and the Department of Education will be staffed with Trump appointees–and not the long-tenured “civil servants”. Those Trump acolytes will use the same power acceded to the previous policy wonks to regulate things like emissions, educational standards, program eligibility, and grant review to do whatever the new President wants.
This “power creep” was gradual and mostly unnoticed in society for generations. And as long as all of those Deputy Undersecretaries and Executive Assistants to the Acting Secretaries were doing things that people liked (or didn’t care about) it was all fine and good. But now that there is a possibility of nefariousness and ill-will, a lot more people will notice the power that they have given up to the central government.
If we manage to survive the on-coming onslaught, there can be serious discussion about whether all of that power should be given to our leaders. It will become clear that anything turned over to Washington control in the name of “goodness and righteousness” can also be used for “evil and destruction”. The Founding Fathers did their best to try and keep that from happening. Let’s get back to their original vision for this country.
