E-Newsletter No. 80 August 2020
This month we wrap up our series of newsletters on what’s wrong with the federal government, and our Editorial Board’s recommendations on what we should do about it. If you go back to our newsletters the past few months you will note a common theme – – the federal government has simply grown too large and is becoming unmanageable. This fact is readily apparent when you look at the federal bureaucracy, which is oftentimes referred to as the Administrative State – – the various departments in the unelected “fourth branch” of the federal government. The massive growth in the federal government since the 1960s has been accompanied by a similar increase in the amount of waste, fraud and abuse within the federal government.
Because of the massive size of the Administrative State, we needed to prepare a separate Conversation Piece to discuss our recommendations on how to drain the swamp –
https://www.f2ppr.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Whats-Wrong-with-the-Administratvei-State.pdf
Please note that this piece does not address the military, because that is a proper role of the federal government, as spelled out in the Constitution. This piece also does not cover the massive amounts of money spent on the “non-constitutional” “entitlement” programs that have been approved by Congress over the years. However, we have already laid out our recommendations for transforming these entitlement programs in The 2020 Initiative. https://f2ppr.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/The-2020-Initiative.pdf
In the above piece, we discuss the federal agencies that are totally appropriate, because they play a vital role in protecting our country’s citizens. And certain departments are needed to ensure the proper functioning of the federal government. We also identify and discuss those departments that should be transformed into being a “knowledge resource” for the states, but the day-to-day operations and the administration for those functions should be moved to the states, with appropriate “policy oversight” and support from the federal government. And lastly, we list those departments that serve no useful purpose and should be eliminated. The bottom line is that if we were to restructure the Administrative State along these lines, we would be able to significantly reduce the amount of the federal government’s annual deficit. The remaining spending reductions that would need to occur to eliminate the annual deficit will still need to be accomplished by transforming the various socialist entitlement programs.
As we head into the election season, we wanted to remind everyone that a variety of conservative-themed yard signs are available (for free) in our Store on our website. https://www.f2ppr.org/store/
We also have a Videos page on our website – https://www.f2ppr.org/videos/ Our lead video is entitled “How Big Should Government Be?” Simply put (and as Dennis Prager explains) “The more control the government has over people’s lives, the less Liberty people have.”
US Debt Clock – – July 1st – $80,200 per citizen / August 1st – $80,525