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Conflict between representative government and administrative government

The demise of representative government

By Henry Lamb

Monday, September 3, 2007

Few people saw it coming. Many are still oblivious. But it is here, and growing: administrative government. What made America great was the creation of a government designed to exercise only the power granted to it by the people who are governed. The Declaration of Independence says it quite clearly: "Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...."

This means that elected representatives make the laws and levy taxes to hire the administrators who administer the laws. This ingenious separation of powers makes it possible for the people who are governed to un-elect representatives who make laws or levy taxes the people don't like.

This form of government is brilliant. But, in the minds of the more progressive social engineers, it is messy, unprofessional, and prone to mistakes. Since the early 1970s, the idea has emerged that governments should direct the development of society, rather than respond to society's wishes. Municipal planners began to multiply in the 1970s, and county and regional "planning commissions" began to flex their muscles. These, of course, are most often appointed bodies, led by a professional staff. Their professional judgment was thought to be better than the judgment of politicians who were subject to the influence of wealthy contributors.

This conflict between representative government and administrative government was not born in the 1970s; it existed throughout the 20th century. Administrative government essentially replaced representative government with the creation of the President's Council on Sustainable Development, which, incidentally, consisted of appointed professionals. The PCSD declared that:

"We need a new collaborative decision process that leads to better decisions; more rapid change; and more sensible use of human, natural, and financial resources in achieving our goals."

This statement displays contempt for the "decision process" of elected representatives, and is only one of 16 declarations that indicate the extent to which the appointed PCSD believed that a professional, appointed government should engineer society.

The PCSD functioned from 1993 to 1999, and it permeated every federal agency. Consequently, its influence permeated state and local government, enforced through what is euphemistically called "economic incentives and disincentives." This means - in street language - "you do what we say, or you get no federal dollars."

Throughout the 1990s and on, appointed visioning councils appeared in nearly every community - funded by federal "challenge" grants - to devise a plan for the future of the community. Many of the plans have now been adopted. Some people are discovering that the land they own is now worthless because "the plan" says it cannot be developed. Some people are discovering that they cannot have a hedge around their yard because "the plan" prohibits it. Many local and county plans are so detailed and specific as to prescribe the type of plants that may be used for landscaping; the color that houses must be; the size and style of commercial signs; and the penalties for non-compliance.

These plans were devised by appointed so-called professionals, and adopted by elected officials who either believe that professionals, rather than the governed, should order society, or are so intimidated by the professionals that they simply acquiesce to their demands.

This same shift away from the consent of the governed is now infecting our Congress. The executive (administrative) branch, has created "working groups" consisting of appointed administrators from Mexico, Canada, and the United States, which work daily to "harmonize" or "integrate" the administrative rules which govern the societies of the three nations. Congress is not needed, nor wanted. Representative government is no longer essential; it is now the administrative government that engineers society by enforcing rules and regulations that carry the weight of law.

NAFTA and CAFTA are major trade policies that were devised by appointed professionals, and approved by a Congress that was either converted, or intimidated. In either case, the result is the same. Through the administratively created Security and Prosperity Partnership, the appointed professional bureaucrats are devising and enforcing public policy that is transforming the nation from a representative government, to an administrative government.

Congress can, should it muster the courage, condemn the SPP and deny funds to every government agency that participates in its meetings. Congress can, should it muster the courage, withdraw from NAFTA and CAFTA, and stop the outflow of jobs and industries to other countries. Congress can muster the necessary courage only if the people who are governed can muster the courage to identify and vote for the candidates who value representative government, and who will commit to restoring it to the United States.


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