tomder55
Feb 21, 2025, 06:49 AM
Article 2 Sec 1 of the Constitution reads
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.
That language is pretty straight forward. But since the Presidency of Woodrow Wilson the Federal Government has expanded to include agencies created by the Legislative Branch that work independent of the President’s direct control.
You see; Wilson really hated the Constitution. While he was making the world safe for democracy, he was also making America safe for the modern bureaucratic state.
He wrote that he wanted to correct “the error of trying to do too much by vote.;” that “self-government does not consist in having a hand in everything,” making the case that there was a need for “administrative elasticity and discretion” free from Constitutional checks and balances.
The Study of Administration | Teaching American History (https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-study-of-administration-2/)
This is pretty much the position of the progressives. (Except when they control the executive.)
That is how we have governed for more than a century. (with some push back from Reagan and some other moderates) . The government has grown into a leviathan of mostly unchecked bureaucrats. The list of agencies is too many to mention.
The Unitary Executive Theory was proposed by Reaganites. It came from this report by AG Edwin Meese
Meese Separation of Powers Report | DocumentCloud (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6561980-Meese-Separation-of-Powers-Report/)
Although Presidents have tinkered around the edges wresting back their Constitutional Powers the Democrats have largely embraced Wilsonian concepts.
Trump is taking a sledge hammer to the administrative state.
previous administrations have allowed so-called “independent regulatory agencies” to operate with minimal Presidential supervision. These regulatory agencies currently exercise substantial executive authority without sufficient accountability to the President, and through him, to the American people. Moreover, these regulatory agencies have been permitted to promulgate significant regulations without review by the President.
These practices undermine such regulatory agencies’ accountability to the American people and prevent a unified and coherent execution of Federal law. For the Federal Government to be truly accountable to the American people, officials who wield vast executive power must be supervised and controlled by the people’s elected President.
Therefore, in order to improve the administration of the executive branch and to increase regulatory officials’ accountability to the American people, it shall be the policy of the executive branch to ensure Presidential supervision and control of the entire executive branch. Moreover, all executive departments and agencies, including so-called independent agencies, shall submit for review all proposed and final significant regulatory actions to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Executive Office of the President before publication in the Federal Register.
Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies – The White House (https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/ensuring-accountability-for-all-agencies/)
This of course will be challenged in SCOTUS. Dems are calling this a power grab. But in reality, it is restoring the government to operate in the way the Framers intended.
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.
That language is pretty straight forward. But since the Presidency of Woodrow Wilson the Federal Government has expanded to include agencies created by the Legislative Branch that work independent of the President’s direct control.
You see; Wilson really hated the Constitution. While he was making the world safe for democracy, he was also making America safe for the modern bureaucratic state.
He wrote that he wanted to correct “the error of trying to do too much by vote.;” that “self-government does not consist in having a hand in everything,” making the case that there was a need for “administrative elasticity and discretion” free from Constitutional checks and balances.
The Study of Administration | Teaching American History (https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-study-of-administration-2/)
This is pretty much the position of the progressives. (Except when they control the executive.)
That is how we have governed for more than a century. (with some push back from Reagan and some other moderates) . The government has grown into a leviathan of mostly unchecked bureaucrats. The list of agencies is too many to mention.
The Unitary Executive Theory was proposed by Reaganites. It came from this report by AG Edwin Meese
Meese Separation of Powers Report | DocumentCloud (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6561980-Meese-Separation-of-Powers-Report/)
Although Presidents have tinkered around the edges wresting back their Constitutional Powers the Democrats have largely embraced Wilsonian concepts.
Trump is taking a sledge hammer to the administrative state.
previous administrations have allowed so-called “independent regulatory agencies” to operate with minimal Presidential supervision. These regulatory agencies currently exercise substantial executive authority without sufficient accountability to the President, and through him, to the American people. Moreover, these regulatory agencies have been permitted to promulgate significant regulations without review by the President.
These practices undermine such regulatory agencies’ accountability to the American people and prevent a unified and coherent execution of Federal law. For the Federal Government to be truly accountable to the American people, officials who wield vast executive power must be supervised and controlled by the people’s elected President.
Therefore, in order to improve the administration of the executive branch and to increase regulatory officials’ accountability to the American people, it shall be the policy of the executive branch to ensure Presidential supervision and control of the entire executive branch. Moreover, all executive departments and agencies, including so-called independent agencies, shall submit for review all proposed and final significant regulatory actions to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) within the Executive Office of the President before publication in the Federal Register.
Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies – The White House (https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/02/ensuring-accountability-for-all-agencies/)
This of course will be challenged in SCOTUS. Dems are calling this a power grab. But in reality, it is restoring the government to operate in the way the Framers intended.