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Congress Changes Hands, but Citizens Can Still Petition to Cut Red Tape Democrats take both chambers in January 2027, but five tools in existing law let any citizen push an agency to cut or change a rule. From Taft to Hoover to Grace to Gore, a Century of Commissions on Waste Presidents of both parties have studied federal waste since 1910. The record shows what got adopted, what was ignored, and why reform sticks or fails. If the Constitution Were Rewritten as a Software License Agreement A labelled satire recasts the Bill of Rights as terms of service the provider may update at any time, to show why secured rights beat granted ones. Low-Flow Toilets and Banned Bulbs, How Washington Moved Into Your House Federal efficiency standards reach down to the toilet tank and the light bulb, and the trade-offs are rarely put to the people who pay for them. A Thought Experiment, the Nation That Planned Breakfast From One Office A labelled satire about a federal Office of Breakfast, and what the invented shortages teach about Mises, Hayek and the real record of planned economies. A Thought Experiment Where Washington Needs a Permit to Cross the Delaware Satire: George Washington's Christmas 1776 crossing run through modern permitting, then the real crossing and why free people cannot wait for permission to act. Federalism Lets Fifty States Experiment, and the Constitution Planned It Dividing power between Washington and the states lets a policy be tested in one place before it is imposed on all. The Framers built it that way. Six myths about the 1929 crash and the New Deal recovery, tested The Hoover-did-nothing, New Deal-saved-us story fails six tests against the record, from the 1932 tax hike to unemployment in 1938. Sue and Settle, the Friendly Lawsuit That Writes Rules Without You in the Room How a lawsuit between an advocacy group and an agency that agree can set the agency's rulemaking agenda, and what the 2017 reforms did about it. Move the Agencies Out of Washington, and Watch Who Complains Relocating agency headquarters closer to the people they regulate changes bureaucratic culture, and the backlash tells you why. Can Congress Do That, Ten Questions About Federal Power Answered The quickest test of any bill is to ask which listed power authorizes it. Ten common questions about federal power, answered with the cases. Madison Called It the Very Definition of Tyranny, and Agencies Hold All Three Federalist 47 defines tyranny as all three powers in the same hands. Read it passage by passage, then see which federal agencies hold all three. FDR's Second Bill of Rights Turned Freedoms Into Claims on Neighbors Roosevelt's 1944 call for rights to jobs, housing and medical care, stated fairly, then answered: a right that needs a provider is a claim on someone. Solyndra to Amtrak, why government picks losers when it picks winners Washington says it can spot the next great company. Solyndra, Amtrak and Hayek's knowledge problem show why its bets fail more often and never close. A thought experiment where a federal agency replaces every church charity A labelled satire of a Department of Neighborliness shows what a federal program can supply and what only a congregation can. Departments, Commissions, Corporations and Who Really Controls Each One Federal agencies come in different legal shapes, and the shape decides whether the elected President can direct them. A table of who answers for each. How to File a FOIA Request and Get a Federal Agency to Answer You A step-by-step playbook for the Freedom of Information Act: finding the office, writing a narrow request, fees, deadlines, exemptions, appeals and court. Woodrow Wilson Wanted a Darwinian Constitution, and Conservatives Said No Wilson argued in 1908 that government should be a living organism, not a Newtonian machine of checks. His case at its best, then an answer from Federalist 51. That Little Number on a Federal Form Can Protect You From a Penalty The OMB control number printed on federal forms exists because of the Paperwork Reduction Act, and its public protection provision has real force and limits. Public Comment on a Federal Rule, the Citizen Power Written Into the 1946 APA The 1946 Administrative Procedure Act lets any citizen comment on a proposed federal rule. Find a rule, write a comment that counts, file it on time. A Fisherman, Some Undersized Grouper and the Problem of Regulatory Crime A fisherman faced up to twenty years over fish thrown overboard, and the case shows how federal crime outran the statute book and the guilty mind. The Small White House Office That Reads Every Major Rule Before You Do How OIRA, created in 1980, reviews major federal rules, why both parties kept it, and why cost-benefit analysis is a conservative tool worth defending. Big companies love the regulations their small rivals cannot afford Large firms often back new rules because compliance costs work as a moat against competitors, so more regulation can mean less competition. The regulation bill a ten-person company pays that a giant can shrug off A rule costs the same paperwork at ten workers or ten thousand, so it weighs most on small firms. The SBA studies, the 1980 law and the per-employee arithmetic. We Raised the Empire State Building in About a Year, So Why Not a Power Line Americans once built skyscrapers, dams and a Pentagon in a year or two, and the slowdown owes more to permits and lawsuits than to engineering. A Thought Experiment, the Town That Handed Every Kindness to a Federal Office A labelled satire in which a made-up town replaces neighborly kindness with a Department of Kindness, and the forms outnumber the friends. Rousseau's General Will Is the Idea Behind Every Power Grab for the People Rousseau said the general will is always right and a man may be forced to be free. The Jacobins tried it; Madison's Federalist 10 is the republic's answer. Roscoe Pound Warned the Bar About Administrative Absolutism in 1938 The Harvard dean and former progressive reformer who became the New Deal agencies' sharpest critic, and how his warning shaped the APA that governs them. The Tenth Amendment Left Out One Word, Expressly, and the Omission Mattered The Articles of Confederation reserved every power not expressly delegated. The First Congress dropped the word, and that choice shaped federalism ever since. Subsidiarity, the 1931 Catholic principle every federalist should know Pius XI's rule that a larger body must not take over what a smaller one can do is the moral twin of the Tenth Amendment, read passage by passage. Seven Things Everyone Believes About the Federal Bureaucracy That Aren't So Seven popular beliefs about Washington's bureaucracy, tested against the record, and why correcting them makes the conservative case stronger. Before the welfare state, Americans insured each other through lodges Fraternal societies gave working families sickness, burial and life benefits with no government at all, until the welfare state crowded them out. Why a church charity knows things a federal program never will Private charity beats government relief where it counts: it knows the person, asks something of him and outlasts any grant cycle. A fair division of labor. Imagine Congress Passed One Last Law Handing All Its Power to the Experts A labelled thought experiment in which Congress retires, then the Constitution, Locke, Federalist 62 and the nondelegation cases show how close we are. The universal basic income idea keeps returning, and the evidence on work A guaranteed income sounds humane and simple. The big American experiments, Finland's trial and the arithmetic say otherwise, and so does the dignity of work. Certificate-of-Need Laws Make a New Clinic Ask Its Rivals for Permission Certificate-of-need laws make anyone who wants to build a hospital wing or buy a scanner prove "need" to a board that rivals can lobby; repeal them. A Thought Experiment on Requiring a Permit to Apply for a Permit A satirical Office of Pre-Application Review shows where permitting logic ends, then the real NEPA, Paperwork Reduction Act and APA steps are laid out plainly. Conservatives Are Not Against Government, We Are Against Rule by Bureau The conservative quarrel is with unaccountable administration, not government. Keeping government and bureaucracy distinct makes the argument stronger. Big Companies Can Afford Regulation, Which Is Why Some of Them Ask for More Compliance costs are largely fixed, so they fall hardest on small firms and protect incumbents. Stigler, Yandle and the Regulatory Flexibility Act explain why. Public-sector unions, and why FDR doubted they could bargain at all Franklin Roosevelt said bargaining could not be transplanted into government. Here is why he was right, and how the country drifted away from him. Brutus No. 1 Predicted the Necessary and Proper Clause Would Swallow the States In October 1787 Brutus warned that the taxing power and one elastic clause would consolidate the states. Read his essay and see who history favored. Frances Kelsey, Thalidomide and the 1962 Law That Slowed Every New Drug Frances Kelsey was right to hold the line on thalidomide, but the 1962 law passed in her wake went far beyond safety, and its cost deserves an honest count. A Two-Page Law From 1970 Now Produces Studies Longer Than a Novel NEPA began as a short procedural statute. Decades of lawsuits turned its impact statement into a years-long obstacle for roads, power lines and mines. Block Grants or Categorical Grants, and Why the Strings Matter Most How Washington sends money to the states decides who really runs a program. A table of grant types, the record since 1972, and which design suits which goal. Federalist 47 Defines Tyranny as All Powers Gathered Into the Same Hands Madison called the gathering of legislative, executive and judicial power into one set of hands the very definition of tyranny. Apply his test to agencies. Common Core Was Voluntary on Paper, Here Is How Washington Made It Stick Federal law forbids Washington to direct curriculum, yet most states adopted the same standards within two years. Grants and waivers did what statute forbade. Few and Defined, the Promise About Federal Power in Madison's Federalist 45 Madison promised federal powers would be few and defined and state powers numerous and indefinite. Here is the promise, and how it has been kept. How a New Drug Gets Through the FDA and Why the Trip Takes So Long The FDA's approval path is a chain of safety rules that also carries a cost few count: patients who wait while a useful drug sits in review. Head Start's Gains Faded by Third Grade, What the Federal Study Found The government's own randomized study found Head Start's early gains mostly gone by third grade. What it measured, what it missed, and what it means for pre-K. Make Congress Vote on Every Major Rule, and Watch Accountability Return The REINS Act would require both chambers to approve any major rule before it takes effect, putting an elected name back on the laws Americans live under. A Thought Experiment on the Federal Kitchen Inspector Coming for Your Stove A labelled satire follows an invented kitchen office from gas stoves to toasters and candlelit dinners, to show where regulation by fear ends. The Congressional Review Act Lets Congress Veto a Rule, if It Moves in Time The 1996 Congressional Review Act is Congress's one fast-track tool against agency rules. Its clocks, its lookback and its fine print decide when it works. Guidance Documents Are Rules That Skipped the Line, and Families Pay for It Agencies govern by letter, memo and FAQ without notice and comment, and the law lets them. Here is how it works, what it costs, and how to fix it. The Administrative Procedure Act of 1946 Was a Truce, and It Still Shows The APA was a compromise between New Deal defenders and critics of administrative absolutism, and its gaps explain many of today's fights over agency power. The family came before the state, so why does the state act like a parent? The family is prior to government in time and in rights, so policy should start there, while answering the case for protecting children from bad parents. Your Questions About the Code of Federal Regulations, Answered Plainly How the CFR differs from the Federal Register and the U.S. Code, how it is organized and updated, and how to find who wrote a rule and what is coming next. GAO's High-Risk List Has Named Some of the Same Programs Since 1990 GAO has listed federal programs most vulnerable to waste, fraud and mismanagement since 1990, and some never come off. That argues for structural reform. None of the Funds, How Appropriations Riders Let Congress Say No to an Agency A four-word phrase in a spending bill lets Congress stop an agency policy without repealing a law. Here is how riders work and where they stop. What the Medicare Debate of 1965 Promised and What the Program Became Conservatives offered a targeted alternative to Medicare in the 1960s and warned of open-ended costs, and the program's later history shows why. The Sick Chicken Case of 1935 and the Doctrine That Could Rein In Agencies Schechter Poultry struck down part of the NIRA because Congress gave away its lawmaking power. The Court has not used that rule since, but the fight goes on. Washington Admits It Sends Billions to the Wrong People, by Law Every Year Federal law makes agencies report their improper payments, and the government's own figures make the case for program reform better than any critic could. The Federal Workforce Is Smaller Than You Think, and That Is the Problem Federal headcount grew about a fifth as spending multiplied, since Washington governs by contractors, grantees and states. Cut programs, not jobs. Official Time Lets Federal Employees Do Union Work on the Taxpayer's Clock Federal law lets employees spend paid hours on union representation. Here is how official time works, what the statute allows, and the arguments on both sides. Even Franklin Roosevelt Thought Government Unions Had Limits Labor's own champions once held that bargaining against the government differed from bargaining against a company, and the record shows how far we moved. Schedule F Is Really a Fight Over Who Answers to the Voters The Schedule F fight is a fight over whether an elected President can direct the executive branch Article II gives him, and the answer starts with the text. The School Staffing Surge, Hiring Outpaced Enrollment for Decades Public schools added non-teaching staff far faster than students, a choice that ate the money that could have raised teacher pay. Nobody Designed the English Language, and Hayek Called That Spontaneous Order Language, common law, money and markets grew from human action, not human design, and that fact should make every would-be redesigner humble. The Spoils System Was Bad, and the Cure Built a Workforce Voters Cannot Reach Patronage was a real scandal and reform was right. But a career service that answers to no election has its own problem, and the history shows how we got here. The CFPB Is Funded Without an Annual Vote of Congress, and That Should Worry Us The purse is Congress's strongest check. An agency paid out of the Federal Reserve escapes it. A 7-2 ruling upheld the design, but that does not make it wise. A Regulatory Budget Would Make Washington Count the Cost of Its Rules A regulatory budget caps the compliance costs agencies may impose, as an appropriation caps spending. How it works, the 2017 precedent and the objections. United States v. Lopez Was the First Commerce Clause Limit Since the New Deal In 1995 the Court held that a federal gun-free school zone law exceeded the commerce power, and the case still draws the line between Congress and the States. Humphrey's Executor Created a Fourth Branch the Constitution Never Mentions A 1935 ruling that a President could not fire an FTC commissioner created agencies answerable to no one. The facts, the reasoning and the case for overruling. Seven Promises Made for the Affordable Care Act, Tested Against the Record Seven selling points of the Affordable Care Act, each stated fairly and checked against what the law and the courts actually did, with a verdict on every one. Tocqueville Saw Soft Despotism Coming, a Power That Never Says No In 1840 Tocqueville described a new tyranny that softens and directs the will, keeping citizens in perpetual childhood. His cure was local liberty. Five Times the Court Told an Agency That Big Questions Belong to Congress The major questions doctrine grew over 23 years. Five cases, each with the agency claim, the statute and the holding, and an answer to the invention charge. McCulloch v. Maryland Opened a Door, and Marshall Swore It Had Walls Marshall read Necessary and Proper broadly in 1819 but insisted on limits, and later courts kept the breadth and dropped the walls. The Affordable Care Act From the 2009 Town Halls to a Zero-Dollar Penalty A dated timeline of the Affordable Care Act, from the 2009 town halls to a zero-dollar mandate penalty, and why the law never won the country over. The Nondelegation Doctrine Says Congress Cannot Hand Its Job to Someone Else Article I vests all legislative power in Congress. Here is what the doctrine means, why the Court stopped enforcing it, and what reviving it would change. Ordered Liberty Is Not a Contradiction, It Is the Only Kind That Lasts Liberty without order collapses into license and then tyranny, so conservatives defend freedom and the habits and institutions that keep it alive. The Government Once Prosecuted Men Under a Rule That No Longer Existed A 1935 oil case exposed that Washington could not find its own rules, and the embarrassment produced the Federal Register, whose volume now tells its own story. A Brooklyn Poultry Firm Beat the New Deal Nine to Nothing in 1935 Schechter Poultry v. United States struck down the NIRA codes unanimously. The facts, the opinions and why no statute has fallen on nondelegation grounds since. The Railroad Commission of 1887 That Became the Model for Every Federal Agency The ICC lived 108 years, from rate cop to railroad ally to casualty of deregulation, and its life story is the pattern for most agencies. Woodrow Wilson Wanted a Government of Experts, and Washington Still Runs on It Wilson's 1887 essay and 1908 book argued for expert administration and against the Founders' checks. Read the passages, then see how the idea outlived him. Locke Said Property Begins the Moment Your Labor Mixes With the Earth Chapter V of Locke's Second Treatise roots property in the ownership of your own labor, which makes taking property an attack on the person.