Almost everyone complains about government — Local, State, & Federal. It’s right up there with finding fault with your spouse, being annoyed with your kids, bitching about the weather, etc., etc.
Today, let’s just focus on Federal Agencies (e.g., DOE, EPA, DHHS, DOEd).
Unfortunately, most people have lots of complaints about them — but they are short on quality solutions. As readers here are hopefully critical thinkers, we should be able to be more than whiners, and actually provide meaningful and practical solutions. Let’s go through the four important federal agencies I mentioned, and see what we get…
1- Department of Energy (DOE) —
Energy is an under-appreciated and enormously important part of our everyday life. Just have the power in your house go off for a day (or a week!) and you will quickly see how almost EVERYTHING we do involves some form of energy (e.g., electricity).
The fundamental problem with the DOE is that it has replaced real Science with political science. For decades, it has endorsed make-believe energy options like wind turbines. For example, here it still says that DOE’s objective is to “support wind energy as an abundant, readily accessible resource that fosters economic prosperity, societal well-being, and energy security.”
That is a political statement devoid of Science. It is unadulterated ignorance, as there is nothing about industrial wind energy that genuinely “fosters economic prosperity, societal well-being, and energy security.” Nothing!
With such profound departures from their mission statement and statutory obligations, does this mean we should Terminate the DOE?
I hear no serious person or organization saying that. Rather, they are saying let’s get a competent DOE Secretary (like Chris Wright) and have him do what it takes to get DOE onto the right track, as we need federal energy oversight.
So far, that is exactly what has happened: DOE is in the process of being substantially reformed, which includes making our energy policies much better. This is the direction that is in the best interest of America!
2- Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) —
The EPA has only been around since 1970. (See some history here.) It has been primarily driven (controlled) by NGOs that are environmental advocates (e.g., the Sierra Club). Like the energy situation, if we are suddenly subjected to an environmental problem (e.g., our water supply becomes polluted), this can very quickly become a major concern.
The reality of life on Earth is that everything is “dirty” to some extent. Further, no one wants problematically polluted air, water, ground, etc. The core EPA questions are: 1) What parts of our world should the EPA be involved with? 2) At what level of pollution of these world components should the EPA get involved?, and 3) exactly what authority should the EPA have to fix things?
The problem here is that unelected NGOs have effectively turned the EPA into an alarmist, activist agency. Worse, their assurance that they only utilize “the best available science” is a joke.
A classic example is Climate Change. The EPA has aggressively targeted CO2, which is NOT a pollutant. (Note: anything in excess can cause a problem.) CO2 is a naturally occurring gas that is an essential part of the life process — from humans to plants.
As with DOE, the fundamental problem with the EPA has been that it has replaced real Science with political science. For decades, it has supported make-believe crusades like demonizing CO2. For example, the so-called Endangerment Finding is what they have used to justify trillions of dollars of rules and regulations on US citizens and businesses.
That is a political campaign devoid of real Science. It is unadulterated ignorance that is mostly about bringing America down.
With such profound departures and overreach from their mission statement and statutory obligations, should we Terminate the EPA?
I hear no serious person or organization saying that. Rather, they are saying let’s get a competent EPA Administrator (like Lee Zeldin) and have him do what it takes to get the EPA onto the right track, as we need competent federal oversight of the environment.
So far, that is exactly what has happened: the EPA is in the process of being substantially reformed, which includes making our environmental policies much better. This is the direction that is in the best interest of America!
3- Department of Human Health Services (DHHS) —
Clearly, our health is also an enormously important matter. Again, just like with energy, if we suddenly lose it (e.g., come down with a serious illness), all of a sudden, this will become our top priority.
I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but again, the fundamental problem with the DHHS has been that it has replaced real Science with political science. For decades, it has allowed self-serving parties (like Big Pharma) to dictate US healthcare policies.
For example, the COVID fiasco made it clear to anyone paying attention that CDC/FDA policies and enormous amounts of wasted money were more designed to profit pharmaceutical companies rather than improve the health of US citizens.
One simple but powerful example is to examine the THOUSANDS of scientific studies that were done about proposed COVID-19 treatments. The clear results are that treatments endorsed by the FDA/CDC did poorly (e.g., Paxlovid, Remdesivir, etc.) while treatments opposed by the FDA/CDC did well (IVM, HCQ, etc .) That was a political campaign devoid of Science that likely resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
With such profound departures from their mission statements and statutory function, does this mean we should Terminate the DHHS?
I hear no serious person or organization saying that. Rather, they are saying let’s get a competent DHHS Secretary (like RFKjr) and have him do what it takes to get the DHHS onto the right track, as we need proper federal oversight of our failing healthcare system.
So far, that is exactly what has happened: DHHS is in the process of being substantially reformed, which includes making our healthcare policies much better. This is the direction that is in the best interest of America!
4- Department of Education (DOEd) —
Here is a brief history of DOEd, which (at 4000± employees) is the smallest of all federal agencies. For example, DHHS has about 100,000 employees.
Guess what? The fundamental problem with the DOEd has been that it has replaced real education Science with political science. For example, for decades, it has allowed self-serving parties like teachers’ unions (e.g., AFT) and the American Library Association (ALA) to dictate US K-12 education policies. This has been an unmitigated disaster.
Unfortunately, the DOEd has not focused on what it should be doing: providing constructive K-12 leadership to the States. The end result is that the fifty states are, by and large, wandering aimlessly like sheep in a large field, without any shepherd — while progressive wolves take them over.
All that being said, unlike the prior three federal agencies, most of what people blamed DOEd for is NOT DOEd’s doing! For example, the COVID fiasco made it clear to anyone paying attention that the States and the unions were not focused on what was best for our children. This was the States’ doing, as the DOEd had nothing to do with this.
Another simple but powerful example is that forty-nine (49) States agreed to adopt most or all of the NGSS — which is a horrific set of K-12 Science standards (e.g., see here). The DOEd had nothing to do with this either!
With these and other widespread failures in our K-12 education system (e.g., inferior test results), should we terminate the DOEd?
Unlike with the other failing — but important — federal agencies, I do hear otherwise competent people and organizations advocating that. For some reason, they do not apply the same logic that applies to the other poorly performing federal agencies to the DOEd.
They should be saying let’s get a competent DOEd Secretary and have her do what it takes to get the DOEd onto the right track — as we need competent federal oversight of our devastated K-12 education system.
YES, that is the correct answer, and it’s all spelled out here.
So far, the focus has been to dismantle DOEd rather than to substantially reform it (i.e., to make our decrepit K-12 education system much better). This is NOT the direction that is in the best interest of America!
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John,
I look forward to your words of wisdom from every printing. After over ninety years on this planet I have never been more astounded by the ominous changes and discoveries occurring from the depths of the oceans to the hight of the cosmos. This portends greater challenges never faced before. Perhaps the greatest challenge will be controlling AI, rather than it controlling us.
Growing up ‘Common Sense’ was an often used analogy by adults for making sound and logical decisions. Until recently we rarely heard it used in government circles. I’m wondering if younger generations have the same connotation of its meaning as it once had? After enduring the prostitution of the words “Climate Change” by government authorities for the past 30 years I’m a bit leery when a word or phrase is used that can mean something different than its original intent. Now, with the specter of AI, it raises this kind of question and many others.
Just a thought by a small town country boy.
Thanks for all you do!
All four agencies were put in place due to out of control activities in a number of different states. For instance, the EPA was thought to be necessary due to pollution in large cities while there was actually no problem in over 95% of America. So, in my opinion, EPA was over sold to America. Our government has to treat everyone equally. So, a small business in Zebulon, NC had to meet the same discharge standard as a polluter in Cleveland, Ohio.
To me, a much better solution would have been for Congress to demand the states get control over their specific situations rather than to set up an elaborate federal structure and then subsidize the whole thing with our tax dollars.
The same thing is true with education, energy, and DHHS. Once federal tax dollars are offered, the recipients are forced to meet federal demands to keep being funded. So, politicians can use the power of coercion to drive all sorts of nutty ideas, and they do it every time!
Meanwhile, the public is clueless. All of this happens at the federal, state, and local levels and bureaucrats at each level learn how to play the funding game to their benefit but not to the benefit of the tax payer. And, when there is not enough tax payer revenue, our Congress merely votes to take on more national debt to fund the craziness. A state can brag about balancing it’s budget because the imbalance is paid at the federal level.
We do not need any of the agencies you list. A very small group in Washington can monitor the various areas of interest and report to Congress. Mainly all of this is up to local authorities because they know what is happening in their area specifically.
Politicians are lazy and hate to make decisions that might be controversial. They love to pass the buck to a higher level especially when the higher level kicks back real bucks to fund their lack of decision making. That is how we end up with a $37.6 Trillion national debt. This is really quite simple if we just pay attention. But, who has time for that?