The U.S. federal government
contains a myriad of agencies, bureaus, corporations, commissions,
administrations, authorities, and boards organized under 15 cabinet-level,
executive-branch departments headed by a secretary (or, in the case of the
Justice Department, an attorney general). Although Republicans created the
latest, most bloated, and most hated department (Homeland Security), they
sometimes talk about eliminating or consolidating various other departments.
In his fiscal year 2013
budget
proposal introduced earlier this year, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) calls for
the elimination of the departments of Commerce, Education, Housing and Urban
Development, and Energy.
The elimination of
cabinet-level departments was a theme that surfaced in several of the
Republican presidential debates. Most of the candidates expressed a desire to
eliminate the Department of Education. Rick Perry said he wanted to eliminate
the departments of Commerce, Education, and Energy. The most ambitious plan is
that of Congressman and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul. In his
Plan
to Restore America, Paul calls for the elimination of the departments
of Education, Interior, Commerce, Energy, and Housing and Urban Development.
Although he hasnt
recommended the elimination of any of the executive-branch departments,
Barack Obama has proposed
a reorganization and consolidation of six major operations of the government that
focus on business and trade that would affect elements of the departments of
Agriculture, Health and Human Services, Interior, Labor, and the Treasury.
The following is a list of
the 15 cabinet-level, executive-branch departments, along with the dates of
their creation
- Department of State (1789)
- Department of the Treasury (1789)
- Department of the Interior (1849)
- Department of Agriculture (1862)
- Department of Justice (1870)
- Department of Commerce (1913)
- Department of Labor (1913)
- Department of Defense (1947)
- Department of Housing and Urban Development (1965)
- Department of Transportation (1966)
- Department of Energy (1977)
- Department of Health and Human Services (1979)
- Department of Education (1979)
- Department of Veterans Affairs (1989)
- Department of Homeland Security (2002)
The departments of Commerce
and Labor were originally the Department of Commerce and Labor (1903). The
Department of Defense was originally the Department of War (1789) and the
Department of the Navy (1798). The departments of Education, and Health and
Human Services were originally the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare
(1953). The Department of State was originally called the Department of Foreign
Affairs. The Department of Justice was originally just the Office of the Attorney
General (1789). The Postal Service existed as the cabinet-level Post Office
Department from 1792 to 1971.
Does the Constitution authorize all of these departments? Does the Constitution
authorize any of them?
It is apparent from reading
Articles I and II of the Constitution that six
of the current executive-branch departments have no constitutional
justification whatsoever for their existence, four of them are apparently authorized by the Constitution, three of them might possibly be
authorized by the Constitution, two
of them should be combined with one of the other departments, and one is missing.
The Post Office Department
that existed from 1792 until it became just the Postal Service in 1971 is
clearly authorized by the Constitution in Article I, Section 8, Paragraph 7,
where Congress is given the power to establish Post Offices and post
Roads. It certainly makes more sense to have a Post Office Department
than some of the other cabinet-level departments that are clearly
unconstitutional.
The departments of Veterans
Affairs and Homeland Security should both be subsumed under the Department of
Defense, since that is what they relate to. We had military veterans for 200
years before the Department of Veterans Affairs was created in 1989. There is no
reason that legitimate functions of this department could not be handled within
the Department of Defense, instead of a bloated federal bureaucracy that is
second in size only to the Department of Defense itself.
The same is true of the
Department of Homeland Security. In only 10 short years it has grown to become
the third-largest federal department. What is the point of having a Homeland
Security Department if we already have a Defense Department? Any legitimate
functions of the Department of Homeland Security (and they would certainly not
include FEMA or the TSA), could and should be part of the Department of Defense.
There are three executive-branch
departments whose constitutionality is dubious at best.
The only possible
constitutional justification for the Department of Commerce is two mentions in
Article I of the Constitution of Congress regulating commerce (Section 8,
Paragraph 3 and Section 9, Paragraph 6). But if a cabinet-level department is needed to do that,
then what did the government do without a Department of Commerce until 1903?
The truth is that the government had no need of a Commerce Department until it
started regulating commerce in an unconstitutional way beginning with the
establishment of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887.
The Department of
Transportation can only barely justify its existence by appealing to the
previously mentioned phrase in Article I of the Constitution giving Congress
the power to establish Post Offices and post Roads. But
that means that the Department of Transportation should be limited to just
post Roads, not mass transit and aviation. And of course,
establishing post Roads could be done under the auspices of
a Post Office Department.
The Department of the
Interior is mainly concerned with federal lands. It now includes agencies such
as the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Bureau of Reclamation
the largest wholesaler of water in the country and the second-largest producer
of hydroelectric power. But if ever we needed a Department of the Interior it
was when the United States acquired the Northwest Territory (present-day Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota) after the
Revolutionary War and purchased Louisiana from France (all or part of 15
current U.S. states). And since there is no reason for the U.S. government to
own more than 25 percent of all the land in the United States (with ownership
exceeding 50 percent in some states), and no constitutional authority for the
government to have anything to do with fish and wildlife or supplying water and
power, it would be more constitutional to have one of the Department of the
Interiors agencies the Bureau of Indian Affairs
elevated to cabinet-level status and most of the other functions of the
department eliminated. But of course, the State Department could handle U.S.
relations with the Indian tribes without having a separate bureau or
department.
The Department of Defense can
be justified by appealing to several paragraphs in Article I, Section 8 of the
Constitution. Paragraph 11 gives Congress the power to declare War.
Paragraph 12 gives Congress the power to raise and support Armies.
Paragraph 13 gives Congress power to provide and maintain a Navy.
Paragraph 14 authorizes Congress to make Rules for the Government and
Regulation of the land and naval Forces. Paragraphs 15 and 16
authorize Congress to call forth, organize, arm, and discipline the Militia.
What cannot be justified by the Constitution is a Department of Offense, which
is what the Defense Department has become. All nondefense spending (foreign wars,
foreign bases, foreign occupations, foreign
interventions) should be eliminated and the department shrunk in size.
The Department of Justice
seems reasonable, since the federal crimes of counterfeiting, piracy, and
treason are mentioned in the Constitution. However, given that Congress didnt
see the need for a Justice Department until 1870, that most federal crimes should
just be state crimes, that the abuses of the FBI and federal prosecutors are well
known, and that the Justice Department agencies of the DEA and the ATF shouldnt
even exist, the Justice Department should be scaled back considerably.
The Department of State seems
to be the most logical department for a government to have. It was the first
federal department established under the Constitution. Article 2, Section 2,
Paragraph 2 of the Constitution mentions making treaties with, and sending
ambassadors to, other countries. The Department of State is one of the smallest
executive-branch departments. However, it could be much smaller if U.S. foreign
policy was not so interventionist.
The Department of the
Treasury can also be justified by appealing to several paragraphs in Article I,
Section 8 of the Constitution. Paragraph 1 gives Congress the power To
lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises. Paragraph 2
authorizes the Congress To borrow Money on the credit of the United
States. Paragraph 5 gives Congress the power To coin Money,
regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of
Weights and Measures. And then there is Section 9, Paragraph 7:
No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of
Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts
and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time.
What cannot be justified by the Constitution is Congresss creating the Federal
Reserve System. Any legitimate functions of the Fed should be handled by the
Treasury Department. The main problem with the Treasury Department, of course,
is that it includes the IRS. Abolish it and the Treasury Department would be
much more acceptable.
The departments of
Agriculture, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban
Development, and Labor cannot be justified in any way by the Constitution.
Where in the Constitution is the federal government authorized to have anything
to do with agriculture, education, energy, health, housing, or labor? Much of
the welfare state is maintained by these departments. The Department of
Agriculture is responsible for WIC, SNAP (food stamps), and farm subsidies. The
Department of Health and Human Services handles Social Security, Medicare, and
Medicaid. The Department of Housing and Urban Development facilitates wealth
redistribution by providing various kinds of housing assistance.
All of that means that if the Constitution is going to be followed,
of the 15 cabinet-level executive-branch departments, only 7 can be
justified in some way by the
Constitution, and there really need to be only 4, or 5 if the Department
of the Post Office is restored.
The problem is a simple one:
Few previous congressional candidates or current members of Congress from
either party have any desire to follow the Constitution in every respect or
even the majority of the time.
Republicans are the worst
because they talk about the Constitution the most. They have talked about
eliminating the Department of Education since the days of Ronald Reagan, but
they have never done anything but raise its budget. They criticize welfare, but wont
touch the biggest welfare programs in the federal budget Social
Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. They condemn Obamacare (the Patient Protection
and Affordable Care Act), but accept Bushcare (the Medicare Prescription Drug,
Improvement, and Modernization Act).
The U.S. government is a
monstrosity. From a libertarian perspective, the Constitution is an imperfect
document. However, if the federal government actually followed its own
Constitution, it would be a tremendous improvement over the bloated, expensive,
intrusive, and authoritative government we have now.
Laurence M. Vance is a policy advisor for the Future of Freedom Foundation and the author
of The Revolution That Wasnt. Visit his website:
www.vancepublications.com. Send
him email.
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