Staff Reports
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy recently unveiled a bold plan aimed at significantly downsizing the administrative state and enhancing efficiency, all while keeping the taxpayer’s wallet in mind. This isn’t just a casual brainstorming session over coffee; it’s a mission to fulfill President Donald Trump’s enduring promise to “drain the swamp” and dismantle what many describe as the insidious “deep state.”
The central component of this ambitious initiative is a newly minted Department of Government Efficiency, humorously dubbed DOGE. This department is designed to put bureaucrats on notice, reminding them that the government is meant to serve the people, not the other way around. The pair outlined their vision in an op-ed that would make any bubble-wrapped bureaucrat uneasy, detailing how DOGE would step in as an advisor to a streamlined White House Office of Management and Budget. The aim is clear: to snip the ever-expanding regulatory and administrative fat that has grown over decades.
At the heart of Musk and Ramaswamy’s plan lies a commitment to the U.S. Constitution, with a laser focus on two landmark Supreme Court rulings that have recently defined the landscape. The first, West Virginia v. EPA, tells agencies that if they want to impose serious regulations that could affect the economy or policy, they better have Congress’s blessing. The second, Loper Bright v. Raimondo, dismantles the antiquated Chevron doctrine, which allowed federal agencies to interpret laws however they chose. These rulings send a clear signal: many of today’s regulations may very well be unauthorized overreach and just waiting to be challenged.
DOGE plans to work with legal experts embedded within various government agencies, wielding advanced technology to sift through the swampy depths of existing federal regulations. By presenting a comprehensive list of overreaching rules to President Trump, the aim is to trigger a pause in their enforcement while initiating a review process to rescind them entirely. The result? A freeing of individuals and businesses from the regulatory chains that Congress never authentically legislated.
This will be the single most significant positive change to the Federal Government.
There will be pushback from bureaucrats and NGOs as thousands of EPA regs are thrown out.
Musk, Ramaswamy Detail DOGE Plan to Drain the Swamp https://t.co/1lEoQI5jRr via @BreitbartNews
— Mike Hudson (@mjhudson) November 21, 2024
Predictably, the usual suspects will raise alarms about “executive overreach” when regulations get wiped out like last week’s leftovers. The reality is that this endeavor is merely correcting the course of myriad regulations that should have never seen the light of day without congressional approval. The Constitution doesn’t delegate legislative power to unelected bureaucrats. While executive orders can be a problem when they create new burdens, they become entirely appropriate when they lazily roll back regulations that have skipped democratic procedures. Moreover, any regulations rescinded cannot simply be put back into service without Congressional action, thus reinstating accountability where it belongs.
The term “deep state” encapsulates the concept of a shadowy group of unelected officials wielding power to create and enforce their own agenda, essentially amending the Constitution without due process. The administrative state has managed to set itself up as a quasi-governmental entity, evading the checks and balances of the three recognized branches of government. The effort by Musk and Ramaswamy, then, isn’t just about efficiency; it’s about restoring the balance of power to ensure that elected representatives—not faceless bureaucrats—are the ones calling the shots.
