How the federal regulatory state keeps expanding at the expense of democracy
Clyde Wayne Crews Jr.’s new Ten Thousand Commandments is a reminder that Washington’s growth is not just about how much money the federal government spends. It is also about how much power it exercises through regulation.
Americans hear constant warnings about “threats to democracy,” but too often the undemocratic drift of the administrative state escapes notice.
Crews estimates the annual cost of federal regulation at at least $2.153 trillion, but the bigger point is a political one: more and more decisions affecting Americans’ lives are being made by federal agencies rather than by elected representatives who can be held accountable. Crews also points out that Congress might even prefer this, as they can shift the blame to unaccountable bureaucrats.
The regulatory state threatens our principles federalism. Their reach extends far beyond Washington, with the current regulatory pipeline including 411 rules affecting state governments and 279 affecting local governments.
That is why CEI’s report matters every year. Even when formal rulemaking slows, federal power still moves through grants, procurement mandates, delegated discretion, and administrative state tentacles.
Crews’s bottom line is hard to ignore: Congress needs to stop handing off its lawmaking responsibilities to unelected agencies and start reclaiming them. Ten Thousand Commandments is an essential annual warning that self-government gets weaker when bureaucracy keeps expanding.
— The Federalism Beat