EPA says it will eliminate its scientific research arm

We haven’t really followed the Constitution for about 100 years now, sadly. We pay lip service to it but it’s mostly a historical curiosity at this point.

If anyone doubts this, take a moment to read the document in one sitting. It’s remarkably short. Compare what you read to the government you’ve had all your life.

I’ve always thought that the electric chair would be the definition of “cruel and unusual” to the founding fathers.

"interstate commerce" has a lot to answer for regarding the creeping scope of the executive powers.

If we followed the constitution the EPA wouldn’t even exist! Clearly the founders didn’t create this complicated three-branch system only to have most of the government being run by “independent agencies” exercising executive, legislative, and judicial powers.

These agencies work with delegated powers. It is completely impossible for such a limited number of people as the American Congress to be experts on everything. They need advisors and structures to help them understand the world and make the right decisions, but also to make sure that these decisions are enforced.

This may not be fully developed in the US constitution because the world was much simpler back then, but it is entirely compatible with it.

I don’t think that’s a fair assessment. The document was meant to be a living adaptable document. In many cases rather than adapting the document directly, laws and interpretations were layered outside the document to keep most the initial structure solid. Amendments came about largely once something was deemed so important it absolutely should be embedded (like the abolishment of slavery) so few mistakes could be made.

The structure should really have a few more obvious significant layers where things could shift around over time.

The notion of Congress “delegating powers” to administrative agencies is entirely incompatible with the constitution.

The administrative agencies do not merely “advise.” They make regulations with the force of law (legislative power), enforce those regulations (executive power), and adjudicate violations of the regulations (judicial power). That concentration of the three powers into a single entity is the very thing the Constitution goes to great lengths to avoid.

> The notion of Congress “delegating powers” to administrative agencies is entirely incompatible with the constitution.

With which article specifically?

Yes, enforcement should not be managed by these agencies. The way to fix this is to reshape them, not give in and let the executive run the show without checks. Of course, that requires a working legislative body and a judiciary that is not fixated on the end times.

Ok, so after you burn down this system what’s the replacement? Nothing?