The “do nothing” temptation lives within all of us, and it’s why problems escalate into crises.
At first, the temptation to do nothing seems like the best and most reasonable thing to do. We’re constantly allocating our time and resources when choosing what to think about and how to live each day. For example, we may ignore government overreach if we don’t see a connection in how it directly affects our lives. Then, the overreach grows and becomes a bigger problem. In this stage, we begin to think about it but we still do nothing because—for the most part—there’s still no great upheaval in our lives. But the problem snowballs and over time becomes too big to ignore. It can morph into a real and clear danger to us personally, but by then it’s too late. Through our lack of attention, government overreach becomes stronger and its citizens weaker.
A group of New England fishermen is in a weakened state because they thought they could work, catch fish, sell fish, feed their family, contribute to the economy, and chase the American dream.
But a storm was brewing. Most seamen are good at spotting storms, but they were blindsided by the fury of the federal government.
The National Marine Fisheries Service, a federal agency that is part of the U.S. Commerce Department, has determined that some fishermen must now allow government contractors aboard its vessels to monitor activity and ensure that federal rules and regulations are being followed. These at-sea services must be paid by the fishermen. Costs are estimated at $710 per day for 19 days each year, reducing a vessel’s income by as much as 20%.
Government overreach—unelected bureaucrats/the administrative state/the fourth branch of government/the deep state/the swamp—is here. And it’s powerful.
But it didn’t happen overnight. Like a fungus, the creep has been slow but determined.
The abuse of power by the administrative state began its stranglehold about 100 years ago.
Until the early 20th century, the separation of powers implicit in Articles I through III of the Constitution prohibited Congress from delegating its legislative powers to administrative agencies. Then in 1928, the Supreme Court in J.W. Hampton, Jr. & Co. v United States said that delegation is constitutional as long as Congress provides executive agencies with an “intelligible principle” or coherent and unambiguous standard to guide rulemaking.
The case opened the door for Congress to delegate rulemaking authority to federal agencies, but only after providing well-defined guidance. Congress abdicated this responsibility. It seems that once a law is passed, it can’t hand it off fast enough to a federal agency for creative interpretation.
There are scarce intelligible principles happening in the beltway.
It gets worse.
In 1984, the Supreme Court ruled in Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v Natural Resources Defense Council that in the face of ambiguous statutory language, courts could defer to an agency’s interpretation of its statutory authority as long as it’s reasonable.
The U.S. Code contains 60,000 pages of laws. The Code of Federal Regulations contains 185,000 pages of rules and regulations. For every one page of laws that Congress passes, federal agencies create three pages of regulations to punish you. That seems unreasonable.
The case of the New England fishermen against Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is going before the Supreme Court in Loper Bright Enterprises v Raimondo. The Court has the opportunity to rein in the administrative state.
Resist the temptation to not follow this case. Maybe you don’t own a boat. Or fish. Or have to pay a government contractor to watch you fish. But these fishermen are in rough waters, and there’s more of it to go around.
The Federal Register lists 436 federal agencies. These agencies employ over two million people who enforce all these regulations.
Today, it’s New England fishermen. Tomorrow, it will be someone else.
About 600 years ago, a Roman Catholic monk named Thomas Kempis and author of “The Imitation of Christ,” made a wise observation. “For temptation first appears to us as a simple suggestion, then it becomes a strong imagination, afterwards pleasure, evil affection, and assent. Thus, the enemy increases his foothold until he can enter altogether because he was not initially met with strong resistance. Moreover, the longer a man delays his resistance, the weaker he becomes, and the stronger his enemy grows against him.”
Citizens haven’t been attending the helm. Our “do nothing” temptation caused us to fall asleep at the wheel, trusting that someone else would handle the navigation.
Government overreach has been happy to oblige.
It’s time to correct the course.
Moving the Conversation Along 