I’ve read several articles over the past few days, all saying essentially the same thing, that Federal regulatory agencies such as the IRS, EPA, and FCC, just to name a few, have become a de facto fourth branch of government.  Each has the ability to create regulations that have the potential to affect all Americans.  All have the power to levy fines and issue other punitive measures.  None has a single elected official in their ranks.  None of the heads of these agencies can be voted out by the American public.  Allowing these agencies to cross the line from administrators of law to creators of law make it easier for statists to subvert the U.S. Constitution and gain control over us.

Ed Feulner in a recent article for The Daily Signal and originally published in The Washington Times entitled: “Congress Passed 800 Pages of Legislation.  Agencies Proposed, Adopted 80,000 Pages of Regulations,” describes two piles of paper on Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee’s desk–

“One of those piles contains all the legislation Congress passed in 2013.  It contains about 800 pages and stands a few inches tall.  The other holds all the rules and regulations that federal agencies proposed or adopted that same year.  It contains 80,000 pages and stands 11 feet tall.”

Of course, some of these regulations are purely administrative in function, what form to file out and who processes it, etc. These are completely valid and necessary.  In some cases though, Congress has abdicated its power, allowing these various agencies to create regulations that limit the freedoms of Americans.  Any proposed rules that would have the effect of limiting our liberties should be deemed as potential law and should, therefore, be subject to the legislative process.  In other words, if it looks like a law, acts like a law, and quacks like a law, it should be subject to a vote.  When Congress cedes this power, it cedes it to the Executive branch, allowing it to create legislation.  This is in direct opposition with the concept of separation of powers enshrined in our Constitution.  The Framers of the Constitution wisely built-in this separation to keep the President from assuming the power of a monarch, something they knew would be deadly to our liberty.