April 7, 2015
Government Agencies Are Out of Control
When George Washington became President, his cabinet consisted of only an Attorney General and the Secretaries of State, War and Treasury. Needless to say, in the two centuries since then, government bureaucracy has gotten completely out of control, and it has become nearly impossible to keep track of all of the country’s departments and agencies. While there are entire departments that should also be discarded, here are 10 agencies which we could easily do without. Because there are so many which are ineffective and intrusive, this is certainly not an exhaustive list.
1. National Security Agency
Despite only recently becoming known to most Americans, the NSA has been around since 1952 when it was created by President Truman. Perhaps the US governments’ most Orwellian agency, it has many times found itself embroiled in controversy, whether for spying on leaders who were in opposition to the Vietnam war or in 2013 when Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA had been collecting the phone records of billions of people.
2. Food and Drug Administration
The FDA is given the surreal power of regulating what Americans may eat, drink and medicate themselves with. This creates an environment where citizens are told that they are in fact not the sole deciders of what goes into their own bodies. Given the inefficiency in bureaucracy, perhaps the most significant failure of the FDA is that it can for years prevent certain drugs from coming to market, all while some desperate patients are willing to take the necessary risks on experimental medicines.
3. Environmental Protection Agency
The EPA has gone from a small and seemingly necessary regulatory agency to a behemoth which tramples small businesses without regard for economic realities. While even some libertarians will admit that there should be some minor regulations on pollution, the EPA has taken the power to arbitrate land disputes and environmental concerns from courts and private citizens and placed it into the hands of bureaucrats with no accountability.
4. Amtrak
Trains are clearly the transportation choice of the past, yet government keeps your dollars invested in them. As prices have gone up higher, higher subsidies have been necessary to keep Amtrak running. Even as certain routes remain barely used, certain Congressmen want to be able to tout that the train runs through their districts, leading to even more tax dollars going toward this failed project.
5. Internal Revenue Service
The IRS has a long history of abusing its power, most recently targeting conservative groups for special audits. If taxation is indeed necessary, must there really be an agency which so clearly intrudes into every aspect of our lives when tax filing season approaches? The Constitution provides that Congress may levy taxes; therefore, those few taxes which are created should be done accordingly.
6. Federal Emergency Management Agency
During Hurricane Katrina, Americans were able to see the true ineptitude of FEMA. As more layers of bureaucracy are piled upon one another, quick responses become more difficult to execute. Emergency relief should be left to private organizations like the American Red Cross, which has proven itself time and time again.
7. Transportation Security Administration
Unfortunately, this generation of Americans has been taught that Constitutional rights are suspended if one decides to travel through an airport. Every day, citizens are treated like animals and inspected without regard for their privacy or dignity. While national security is of the utmost importance, there are certainly better and more efficient ways in which safety can be ensured.
8. Drug Enforcement Administration
The War on Drugs has taken millions of lives and prisoners while consuming billions of taxpayer dollars. We do not have to approve of drug use, but we as free people have a duty to bring an end to the tyranny of the DEA. This agency has become known for its unannounced late-night raids of suspects’ homes, sometimes killing innocents or even intruding into the wrong houses. Even if certain drugs shall remain illegal, there must certainly be a better way of executing such rules.
9. Federal Communications Commission
Freedom of speech is among the most important rights in our Constitution, perhaps the reason why it is listed first. However, the FCC places barriers upon our rights to engage in and listen to speech of our choice. Most recently the FCC engaged in more unbelievable behavior as it for the first time created a regulation of the internet through “net neutrality,” which will no doubt create the possibility of a future abuse of power.
10. Federal Reserve
The Federal Reserve bank, created in 1913, is one of the enigmatic aspects of the entire federal government. Not many Americans truly understand it, yet it silently steals value from Americans’ dollars every day. Since the central bank’s creation, the dollar has lost 95% of its value. With the Fed always printing more money, big government politicians are easily able to tax and spend as much as they want without having to make hard decisions on how to account for revenue.