There is a lot of talk about a “deep state” – sometimes referred to as the “administrative state” or just “the bureaucracy.” Those on the right see the burgeoning bureaucracy as a threat to the inalienable rights of the people, the federal system and a bottom up republic. The left cast concerns about a deep state as some sort of conspiracy theory – viewing a strong central regulatory government as the best determinant of rights and a benevolent overseer.
So, which is it? A baseless political conspiracy theory or a dangerous amassing of undemocratic powers by an ensconced Washington establishment?
It is important to keep in mind that authoritarianism, tyranny and oppression require a consolidation of power in a central government operated by quasi-permanent elitist authority – in the extreme, a dictator. It is the opposite of government of the people, by the people and for the people.
As a believer in the Founders’ concept of limited government with maximum power resting with the people, I view the growing bureaucracy in Washington with considerable alarm. What the Founders feared most was a powerful central – and potentially tyrannical – government.
We often note that the Constitution and Bill of Rights were established to protect our inalienable rights and freedoms. But we need to ask, from what and who? The answer to that question is simple …excessive government. The Founders made that very clear.
The Constitution is based on the supreme “inalienable rights” of the people, not the supreme power of the government to establish arbitrary or transitory rights. The Founders saw excessive government as the greatest potential threat to our rights and freedoms. So much so that they enacted the much-ignored 10th Amendment as part of the Bill of Rights, it states that any powers not specifically granted to the federal government are to be retained by the states and we the people. THAT is the central core of conservative political philosophy.
To underscore their belief in a limited federal government, the Founders established the concept of states rights. Just as the people have inalienable rights, states have rights that are not to be abridged by the federal government – even though they have been to an extreme degree.
It is beyond refutation that the federal government has amassed increasing regulatory powers over the states and the people over many years – at the expense of our personal freedoms AND ability to influence policy. The power of governance has been gradually shifting from bottom up to top down – from the consensus of we the people to the determination of an aloof elitist ruling class.
Those on the left tell us that the bureaucracy is merely the worker bees laboring in a non-partisan manner in the best interest of the people. That may have been the case in the early days of the Republic. But like Frankenstein’s creation, the bureaucracy has evolved into a power of its own – shredding the Constitution and shattering the pillars of democracy.
The main problem has been the growth of an entrenched branch of government that has broadened its regulatory scope and has assumed increasing powers without accountability to the people. Bureaucrats often note that elected officials come and go, but they operate indefinitely without the assent of the people.
This is not a new issue. It has been at the core of the conservative/progressive debate for generations. I first started writing about my concern over the growth of the bureaucracy and the expansion of federal power more than 40 years ago. At the time, I described the bureaucracy as the fourth branch of government – and potentially, the most powerful branch. It has since increasingly usurped powers from all three constitutional branches – the Executive, the Legislative and even the Judiciary.
What is today called the “deep state” is that same concept. It is the marriage between the bureaucracy, progressive political officeholders, who believe in empowering the federal government is their own retention of power, and a political infrastructure of professionals – lawyers, accountants, consultants, lobbyists, etc – who feed off government. That is the Washington establishment – a rose by any other name.
Since consolidation of power in a central government is the essence of authoritarian tyranny (the opposite of constitutional federalism), it can be fairly stated that those who believe in an ever more expanding and powerful central government represent and promote authoritarian concepts.
The more powerful the national government, the less influence the people have. We can attend local hearings and talk to our most local officials. As power moves up to the state and federal levels, our individual influence evaporates. We are no longer self-governing but ruled over by nameless bureaucrats. It was exactly what the Founders feared most. It was inherent in Benjamin Franklin’s admonition that “it is a Republic, IF YOU CAN KEEP IT.” We are currently not keeping it.
In its most benign description, the federal bureaucracy is merely of non-partisan workers who carry out laws enacted by Congress … orders issued by the President of the United States — and decisions of the courts. That may be a nice theory – and may have had some validity in the 1800s. But it has evolved over the past 100-plus years into a self-motivated and self-instructed branch of government. It operates superior to the three major branches of government – and has assumed regulatory powers traditionally the purview of the states.
The essential difference between progressives and conservatives is that the former believe a big powerful central government is the proper means of governance, while conservatives see the consolidation of power in an aloof and unaccountable central government as an evolving danger to personal freedom and the ability of the people to govern in our own best interest.
Creeping authoritarianism may be the way republics and democracies die. Perhaps it is inevitable. Whether we call it fascism, communism or socialism, all central planning authoritarianism have the same two realities – a loss of the people’s freedom and influence in the development of public policy AND the eventual catastrophic failure to serve the interests and welfare of the people. We have seen this failure over and over in such places as Russia. Cuba and Venezuela.
More than thirty years ago – as China was moving away from dogmatic communism – a high ranking government official asked me: “Why is America moving in the direction we are running from?” It was a good question. Why, indeed?
Those on the left talk of protecting the inalienable rights of the people even as they curtail them. They talk of upholding and defending the Constitution even as they undermine it.
The primary threat to the American Republic comes from a self-empowered unaccountable bureaucracy. Whether you call it the “deep state,” the “administrative state” or whatever, this issue is the same. We the people lose our right and ability to self-govern THE government,
So, there ‘tis.