Socialism Via The Empowerment of Permanent Federal Agencies

The below letter to the editor is by Robert "Bob" McDowell, Jr. He is a Professional Engineer and Geologist with over 50 years experience in creating drilling prospects, supervising drilling, well completion, production operation, and pipeline design for oil and gas including repair of problem wells. McDowell is a conservative and active in the Oklahoma Republican Assembly.

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Bob McDowell

By Bob McDowell: It seems that the Obama Administration and its appointed department heads are determined to push through as many of the economy destroying rules, that have the force of law because Congress refuses to have a vote on each proposal, as they possibly can before the next election. This could be in the hope that they will have established so much power by then that it will be almost impossible to reverse the rush to Socialism that has been going on for decades.

Evidence for this conclusion is the daily reports of new rules and edicts flowing out of "foggy bottom" (Washington D.C.), where it has long been thought that the elected representatives of the voters soon after arriving became infected with what has been referred to as "Potomac Fever." In this epidemic those succumbing to it seem to have lost all semblance of common sense or loyalty to those who elected them, the promises made to get elected, or the historical principles of the political Party under whose banner they ran.

Otherwise those in Congress would mandate that each house would hold an open 'yes or no' recorded vote on each of these, sometimes totally stupid, rules dreamed up by the bureaucrats receiving inflated pay and benefits not available to those in the business world. Actually, from my reading of the U.S. Constitution, there is no provision that would allow these departments to have the power to establish 'law' on the whim of one, or a group, individual. Thus, the Congresses that have established these many small kingdoms stand in violation of the Constitution and should be held accountable, on an individual basis. That means that those who voted for them could, and should, be prosecuted for their law-breaking. Any of us would be in prison for comparable conduct.

Part of the problem in attempting to reverse the ever accelerating trend to Socialism here was the enacting of the "Civil Service Laws" in the 1930's during the administration (dictatorship) of Pres. F. D. Roosevelt. The premiss was that it was historically true that with each change in management (the White House) there was a wholesale clearing out of the employees under the long time premiss that "to the victor belong the spoils", commonly referred to as the "Spoils System". Under that, the incoming administration evaluated each and every government employee and only retained, if any, those deemed to be of similar ideals.

Actually, there is some practicality to that system. At present, we have the problem that employees, as differentiated from appointees, are held over from one administration to the next and carry with them their personal biases and opinions. As a result it becomes extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the incoming administration to establish the changes promised on which they were elected. In some cases there is total disloyalty and attempted disruption.

It is my opinion that this was the basis behind the establishment of the 'Civil Service' laws in the first place. Much of the trend towards Socialism begun during the Woodrow Wilson administration were reversed by those following him. FDR and his advisors had noted this and were determined to make there beginnings of this movement permanent. His administration was responsible for the depression of the 1930's extending longer than it should have by the institution of heavy taxation with a steeply graduated income tax rate on the "wealthy", excepting himself and his friends. Remember, the income taxes had only been instituted less than 20 years earlier and were a 'flat rate' tax, where everyone paid the same percentage, and were instituted under the guise of "tax the rich". Sound familiar??

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