The administrative state on the chopping block.

• Author: Emord, Jonathan W.
• Position: Political Landscape

"The President is doing more than any prior occupant of his office to end the era of government by bureaucratic oligarchy."

LESS THAN a month into office, Pres. Donald Trump issued an executive order to establish task forces in every regulatory agency dedicated to achieving his directives to cut the Federal bureaucracy by 75%. The President is doing more than any prior occupant of his office to end the era of government by bureaucratic oligarchy. His action promises to restore rule --at least somewhat--by the elected in place of rule by the unelected heads of the agencies than any chief executive in the modern era, since before Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The President's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, heralded the move as the first step toward "deconstruction of the administrative state," words spoken with the force of Trump's conviction and the promise of returning the U.S. to the people. Since the 1930s, Congress--to avoid accountability that carries consequences at the ballot box--progressively has delegated more Legislative, Executive, and Judicial powers to the unelected heads of what now are in excess of 250 regulatory agencies. Today, those agencies preside over a vast body of regulatory law that never has been approved by the House of Representatives nor Senate.

Indeed, Federal regulation, adopted independent of Congress, represents more than two-thirds of all Federal law. The heads of agencies have ruled like oligarchs, largely unaccountable to the courts, and with little public awareness of their often sweeping actions. Year after year, industry sectors have been burdened with new regulations, some to the point of driving out most market players and leaving behind a regulated monopoly. The result has been progressively less freedom, market entry and activity, and more government power to determine winners and losers. The system has grown incredibly corrupt, with regulatees essentially buying regulation by providing sure sources of post-government employment to the decisionmakers in the agencies.

New startups and small firms, along with consumers, have suffered from the system. Repeatedly, regulations that were designed to provide market protection or advantages for incumbent firms with political influence have been sold to the media and the public as designed to protect or further the public interest. The contrary reality has caused most Americans to distrust Congress and the agencies.

Pres. Trump's new initiative differs from deregulatory regimes of the past, oftentimes led by vice presidents in Republican administrations. This one is placing the power to arrive at significant deregulation in the hands of task forces at the agency level comprised of critics of government regulation. They will identify precise regulations and enforcement policies to be put on the chopping block, so-called guidances that are, in fact, illegally adopted rules. For the first time, the promise of true deregulation is before us.

However, deregulation is not enough, as is evidenced by Bannon's...