Restoring the American Dream (Part IV)

There are many other ways the government interferes with the pursuit of happiness. The Court has rewritten the Contracts Clause to treat persons working in the financial sector as second-class citizens (Home Building and Loan Association v. Blaisdell). Allowing one side of a contract to default deprives liberty to the other side. Later Contract Clause cases have voided contracts even when customers use product incorrectly allowing them to win frivolous lawsuits. In Grutter v. Bollinger, the Court held that laws which permit reverse discrimination are acceptable denying many their rightful pursuit of the American dream and happiness. In Raich v. Gonzales, the Court used misguided moral standards to deny persons seeking pain relief using medical marijuana with a doctor’s prescription. Another moral standard which violates individual rights are laws which make selling “sex toys” illegal. These types of laws violate the right of both the business owner to pursue a lawful occupation and the customer who will use these products in the privacy of their home. Just because it is something we would not do, it does not make it wrong: If it makes others happy then it should be legal. Every person should have an equal opportunity for a good education, but the government prevents this from happening. The biggest issue in education is not money, but instead unions which protect bad teachers and prevent impoverished kids from having access to a private education or the public school of their choice.

The government has gone rogue for a number of reasons explained above, but there is another chilling reason why this true. In Whitman v. American Truckers Association, the Court permits the practice of letting federal agencies write and enforce laws without Congressional oversight. This is a direct violation of the Constitution which says all laws must originate from Congress. With over 300 agencies invoking their pet projects on American citizens, it is no wonder regulation is out of control. One may ask how can this happen? Well, the answer is simple. First, the government is trying to do too much so it delegates most of its work to agencies. Secondly, Congress cannot be expected to be experts on all things. Thus, the Court finds it acceptable that Congress can be complacent and delegate their jobs to other agencies. Congress loves this outcome because they can play ignorant with their angry constituents by using John Banner’s (and Obama’s) favorite line of defense: “I know nothing” about that. Unfortunately, they are probably being truthful about their ignorance.

Most federal agencies may be pushing what is a noble agenda, but the outcome is usually what I refer to as “tunnel vision regulation”. The outcome of “tunnel vision regulation” may help achiever or further the agencies cause while at the same time creating dozens of other obstacles for a business or individual to navigate. What’s worse, most government agencies perform functions which are outside the realm of enumerated powers outlined in the Constitution. Correcting this monstrous error is not only going to be difficult, it seems to get progressively worse each year with new agencies being added to the government mission creep statement. Of course, we all know what happens when a mission of any entity becomes too large and convoluted – it becomes inefficient and wasteful. Most companies only make one or a few different kinds of products for good reason: to have focus and to become proficient in making that product. The government is trying to do too much and mission creep is a massive problem.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a prime example of a rogue agency with a highly charged political agenda which makes the American dream and the pursuit of happiness harder simply because they drive up energy costs. It is one thing to have clean air and water, but it another thing to create market chaos with the whole “green” hysteria agenda. The Obama administration’s Internal Revenue Service (IRS) targeted charity groups solely because of their political affiliation violating their right of conscience. Targeting people because their beliefs do not fit our own is wrong and is the antithesis of the guiding principles our country was founded upon in the Declaration of Independence such as the pursuit of happiness. The bottom line is that agencies with no oversight will go rogue. Until the federal government mission and agency power are reigned in, the American dream will continue to slip further away for many. How can this be corrected? First and foremost, the federal government needs to concentrate on enumerated Constitutional powers. For instance, the EPA can be abolished and the job of monitoring pollution issues can reside with the States and the Commerce Department (for pollution that travels and affects interstate commerce and public health and safety). That seems to be a fair compromise because we can still have clean air and water without driving energy costs sky high. Tax reform can downsize and diminish the role of the IRS. Law enforcement agencies such as the FBI, CIA, DEA, ICE, NCIS, ATF, and so on can be consolidated in some manner that may make the dissemination of information more reliable. The FBI can be abolished because it has proven over the past decade that it is rogue organization because it basis it outcomes on political ideology, not the law. Other departments such as education, agriculture, health and human services, and housing and urban development can be abolished in favor of State jurisdiction.