Get Ready for Even More Abuses of Power

One of the great not-so-secret advantages America has had over most places is the checks and balances the Founders placed into our Constitution.

The conflict and tension built into the power sharing both within the federal government and between the national government and the states is frustrating at times, but also a result of the genius of the Founders. They knew that making laws and implementing nation-wide policies would be difficult, and welcomed that fact.

For a century there was essentially no administrative state at the federal level. The government existed and had very limited powers, but it mostly was impotent to force people to do much. The limits to that power weren’t just technical–they were genuine. The feds could rarely bully anybody to do anything without the cooperation of others in the system.

Yet since the end of the 19th and the dawn of the 20th century the federal government has exploded in size, scope, and coercive power. An entire administrative state has sprouted up from nothing and has grown like a cancer upon the land. Not that everything the federal government does is malignant–I love my Interstates and concede that the FAA is necessary. In a complicated world with international trade and technologies capable of rendering mankind extinct it is inevitable that government becomes powerful and pervasive.

But with near omnipotence and omniscience comes a terrible problem: corruption really matters, and abuses of power become existential threats as well.

Corruption is always and everywhere a feature of government because it is inherent in the human soul. It is rarer in societies with high social trust, and common in societies where that trust is laughable. High social trust is a virtuous circle, low social trust a doom loop leading to a failed state. But no matter where you are people are corrupt, and corrupt people seek power.

Checks and balances–divided powers dispersed among competing factions–was a tool the founders used to limit the impact of corruption. Knowing men weren’t angels they set the devils against each other, and it was genius. But with the administrative state, which is pervasive and anonymous, the opportunity for acquiring unlimited power is back.

Joe Biden has been a serial power abuser. He has sent the FBI against his political opponents. He has, in the student loan forgiveness program, implemented a policy he acknowledges is unconstitutional, and he has used his power as head of the administrative state to threaten his political opponents.

In his post-election news conference he explicitly put a target on the back of one of his political enemies: Elon Musk. When asked about whether Musk is a national security threat–an absurdity if there ever was one–Biden laughed and said it would be worth looking at. “There’s a lot of ways.”

Joe Biden just said @elonmusk “is worth being looked at” as a national security threat

A reporter calls him out by asking “HOW?!”

A clueless Joe Biden panics, mumbles, and says, “there’s a lot of ways”

ELONGATE?! pic.twitter.com/7a0mxPtHz0

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 9, 2022

This is a threat, and it is not unique. Biden has been far more insulting and threatening to Musk than this, and has been at least this threatening to others many times.

This administration abused its power regularly prior to the election. Since there has been no punishment for that expect even more of it in the coming months. Biden will get worse.

This Administration was never going to be chastened no mater the results. They are doing exactly what they came to do, and intend to keep doing it.

.@KWelkerNBC: “2/3rds of Americans in exit polls say they don’t think you should run for reelection. What is your message to them and how does that factor into your final decision about whether or not to run for reelection?”

Biden: “It doesn’t…Watch me.” pic.twitter.com/pcWWCrSWTO

— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 9, 2022

I have no good news on this front, because there is none. Perhaps it could be argued that a decisive victory for Republicans in Tuesday’s elections would have  made a difference by tempering Biden’s desire to inflict damage on his enemies, but that would be wrong. Biden is where he wants to be doing what he wants to do. He sees himself as transformative, and you are to be transformed. Like it or not.

As much as I wish our victories on Tuesday were greater in scope, no massive victories in the election would have changed Biden’s desire or power to inflict damage through abusing his power. He simply ignores the limits to his power, and at the moment we are powerless to stop him. Only his fellow Democrats can, and they show no inclination to do so.

As much as Biden and his cronies are a danger to us in the short term, our long-term enemy is the administrative state itself. As Trump’s presidency demonstrated the alphabet agencies are independent actors in the system now and can stymie a president’s agenda. Trump made progress on some issues, but far less that he should have.

It wasn’t the Democrats as much as the bureaucrats who slowed the progress. The CIA, DIA, FBI, CDC…these agencies did the most long-term damage. Political opponents can be fought. Agencies must be endured, mainly.

Our long-term goal has to be dismantling and reforming this blob that swallows good ideas, because if we don’t no number of elections won will be enough to save America.

FROM THE BOSS:

Now that the midterms are over, we must now prepare for the all-important 2024 presidential cycle — in fact, even more urgently than before. We need to make sure Democrats are one and done in the White House, and keep them locked out of control of Congress too. If you want real in-depth analysis and exclusive content and wish to support the long-term mission, join HotAir VIP today and use promo code VIPWEEK to receive 45% off your membership!

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