by R.W. Napper, A Gentleman from Tennessee
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R.W. Napper is a life-long resident of Nashville, Tennessee. A holder of a bachelor’s and master’s degree in history, he is a retired educator and businessman who has taught on the high school and college level. He has published a non-fiction book entitled Trustworthy and True: The Unfolding of Biblical Prophecy Upon the Pages of History. A fictional work is entitled Kalb Hollow: A Nashville Story. Both are available on Amazon.
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John Locke, the 17th century British political thinker whose writings greatly influenced the American founding fathers, wrote that a democratic republic would begin to fail when its legislature creates committees or agencies and bestows upon them the power to make rules and regulations that have the same force and effect as law. In short, Lock was issuing a warning against the creation of an unelected bureaucracy with legislative power. Over the past several decades, the U.S. Congress has created such a bureaucracy. It is interesting that these agencies are a part of the executive branch of the federal government. Executive agencies that possess legislative powers are an obvious and gross violation of the constitutional principle of separation of powers.
The following is a list of bureaucratic agencies with legislative powers that are familiar to most Americans: Enviornmental Protection Agency, Federal Trade Commission, Federal Aviation Administration, Securities and Exchange Commission, Food and Drug Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and many others. These agencies are composed of unelected civil servants who are empowered to make and enforce rules and regulations that greatly affect the lives of countless Americans. These bureaucracies are often referred to as the Deep State and are the real oligarchy that should be reined in.
To be clear, there is a very important role for these agencies in our society; however, legislating is not that role. The role of each agency should be limited to providing oversight in its assigned area and to provide Congress with concerns and advice. The role should also include aiding the President in enforcing laws that Congress sees fit to pass. Unelected federal agencies should not have the power to legislate. The first sentence of Article I of the Constitution of the United States: “All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States, which shall consist of a Senate and a House of Representatives.” ALL legislative powers–period.