In Federalist 22, Alexander Hamilton wrote:
The fabric of American empire ought to rest on the solid basis of THE CONSENT OF THE PEOPLE. The streams of national power ought to flow from that pure, original fountain of all legitimate authority.
Now this is the entire basis of government: that any government derives its just powers – its legitimacy – from the consent of the governed. That bit of language comes from Jefferson, via our Declaration of Independence. The question we must ask ourselves is: what constitutes consent?
Surely it must be more than 21%, right? Because only 21% of Americans think the U.S. government has the consent of the governed. We ought to reflect on exactly what Jefferson wrote in the Declaration:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.
If we are not yet arrived at the point of altering or abolishing, certainly 21% approval must cause even the most short-sighted, and every government employee for that matter, to shudder.
I won’t provide much commentary on this, which would just be piling on.
On a near party-line vote, the House recently approved the purchase of an almost 3,000 acre beach in St. Croix from a private owner. You read that right. As Fox News reports:
Two weeks ago, on a near party line vote, a huge Democratic majority in the House agreed to spend $50 million to buy the former cotton plantation on the island of St. Croix.
Here’s a shot of the newest park (courtesy of Fox News):
Newest National Park
We’re running trillion dollar deficits at the federal level exactly for reasons like this. I don’t think most Americans would object to having national parks: it is reasonable to think that such a department might even serve a worthy purpose in preserving important American natural resources. As Fox reported, however, the National Park Service hadn’t even completed a study of the purchase.
This is how William Black, a former federal bank regulator, described the actions of Senator Robert Menendez (D, N.J.), in prodding the Federal Reserve to approve the takeover of a New Jersey bank. As the article from the Wall Street Journal noted:
While lawmakers routinely forward requests from constituents to government agencies, it is rare for them to make specific requests along the lines of this letter asking specific actions, bank attorneys and congressional aides said. One reason is to avoid any appearance of trying to influence the regulatory process for political ends.
What the Senator failed to mention in his letter was that the bank’s Chairman and Vice Chairman were large donors to his political campaign. While the outcome in this story was that the Fed didn’t act on behalf of the Senator and the bank ended up failing, the Senator’s remarks are worth noting:
In a written statement, Mr. Menendez said helping the community bank, which mostly served Hispanics, was the right thing to do. “If any New Jersey constituent—regardless if it is a family or a local community bank—comes to me seeking assistance with a legitimate federal matter, not only is it important to help, I was elected to help,” he said. “Telling them ‘no’ would be abdicating my responsibility.”
The matter worth disputing is if the success or failure of a private company, even if that company is a bank, is a “legitimate federal matter.” If you accept Madison as an authority on the Constitution and the specific responsibilities of the federal government, it is not.
And if you accept P.J. O’Rourke as an authority on political humor, then you’d likely chuckle at his observation that “When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, then the first things to be bought and sold are Legislators.”
So the federal government employs an all-time high of 2.15 million people. This largest-ever federal payroll will grow by 153,000 people in 2010.
The Administration indicates that this will drop in 2011 as temporary census workers will reduce headcount by 80,000. Of the 2.15 million, 1.43 million are civilian (non-military) workers. Remarkably, this figure does not include Postal employees.
In a balanced government scenario, the lion’s share of these government employees would work in the states. There, they would be closer to their benefactors, where bureaucracy could be checked by common sense and watchdog taxpayers.
As a frame of reference, 2.15 million people is roughly the population of Houston, Texas.
