By Stephen Smoot
“I’m calling on President Biden to stop this all out war on West Virginia by his federal agencies,” Governor Jim Justice stated on Jan 31, adding that “it’s so blatantly targeted at our state and our people because we happen to disagree on political issues. It’s just plain wrong.”
First, the US Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service “made the abrupt decision” to halt issuing a waiver for a secondary containment fence at the State Wildlife Center in French Creek, forcing its closure and the cancellation of Groundhog Day festivities.
Also, in a move that Justice called “blackmail,” the US Fish and Wildlife Service threatened to withhold a $19 million grant used for trout stocking in state streams unless the state adapted its protocols to protect a list of allegedly endangered species supposedly attacked by those fish. West Virginia Department of Natural Resources officials contend that the federal allegation is wrong and that none of the species listed are, in fact, endangered.
Furthermore, the Biden Administration used environmental regulations to once again shut down progress on the Parsons to Thomas stretch of Corridor H. The state had earlier refused to consider a new route proposed by environmental groups, partly because they have cost state taxpayers hundreds of millions over the decades while fighting the highway. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has also delayed progress on the Coalfields Expressway.
A half century ago, Arthur Schlesingrer Jr penned “The Imperial Presidency.” Often called the “court historian” of both Franklin Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy, his book came on the heels of the disastrous presidency of Richard Nixon, then updated in 2004 to reflect changes between Nixon and George W. Bush.
Though critical of Republican presidents more recently in history, the trends toward the accumulation of presidential power has developed slowly over time. The process happened usually because chief executives increasingly resorted to expedients, such as executive orders, that also eroded the purview of Congress, but allowed them to act more quickly.
James Madison touted the slow and deliberate speed at which the Constitution forced the government to operate, saying that it allowed for time to think and discuss, preventing bad laws from passage due to public emotions or other pressures..
Congress has also happily evaded responsibilities by giving federal agencies far too much regulatory latitude, saving them from blame when the public reacts negatively.
The growth of the power of the president has tremendous negative consequences for the nation. In the past, most of society did not view the power of the presidency as potentially punitive to their personal lives. Now, with the stroke of a pen, a president can ruin an entire business sector or create an inflationary dynamic that brings back serious talk of the 70s era “misery index.”
Fear of presidential power has turned the election cycle into an every four year battle over who gets to impose the power of the office on his or her enemies. Whatever good it does to grant a president enough power to make positive change is drastically outweighed by the impact of people fearing that the government will take away their rights or ruin their livelihoods.
Rolling back expanding national divisions requires that the presidency and the executive branch be stripped of sufficient power that the people and the states feel safe from, at best incompetent, at worst punitive, actions from the White House. Some of these powers ought to return to the states, others to Congress, and still others should never have been assumed by any government in the first place.
This is not a party issue. Republicans fear Biden as much as Democrats fear Trump.
In a truly free country, however, law-abiding citizens should not live in fear of what a change in government might bring.
Restore American freedom by taking power from the president and the executive branch, ensuring that Americans need not fear their government..