Congress: Good Men and Women Doing Nothing
In an executive order yesterday, President Trump moved to take control of “independent agencies” created by Congress. The creation of these agencies was intended to keep their activities out from under The White House and Congress too, to let these agencies do their jobs without being subject to the prejudice of politics.
The President can make appointments to these agencies, presumably for legitimate, technical reasons having to do with the appointee’s expertise and experience, but he can’t dictate the course of day-to-day operations. The Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Trade Commission are two well-known examples of the independent agencies over which Trump is taking control.
Is what he’s trying to do legal? No. Not even close. In fact, he knows that these agencies were created by Congress and that, by virtue of established law, only Congress can cancel their independence.
Does President Trump care that he’s breaking the law? Of course not. The Supreme Court has ruled that a President is immune from prosecution as long as he breaks the law in the ordinary course of his Presidency. What a crock. Did the Supreme Court not realize how difficult it might be to come up with hard, razor-sharp definitions of his Presidential duties? The Supreme Court created this mess. We’ll see what the Justices do when challenges to Trump’s reckless disregard for the law and Constitution come before it.
What was most interesting about this executive order was not the independent agencies it’s affecting, but the one it expressly left well enough alone, the Federal Reserve. Why take control of the other agencies? It’s a power grab. Trump has an often demonstrated problem with people and entities he can’t control.
So, why exempt the Federal Reserve? The answer is, he’s lying. In fact, it’s control over the FED that he really wants because of its ability to manipulate the cost of money and the economy overall. But it’s too soon to go after the Fed without first testing his ability to control the other independent agencies. The timing is right. Seizing control over the Federal Reserve now might risk the passing of his budget that reduces taxes by one trillion dollars primarily for the benefit of the richest people and companies.
Donald Trump is in the process of taking over our government. All of it. And he believes the Supreme Court has made him bulletproof, legally speaking. The Democrats in Congress lack leadership and don’t know what to do without it. The Republicans in the House and Senate haven’t realized yet that none of them may be re-elected if Trump continues to shred the Constitution, ignore the rule of law, and destroy NATO with his lunatic vision of foreign policy while encouraging more, widespread inflation with the trade war he started.
What’s the solution?
There’s a saying… “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” It’s attributed by some to John Stuart Mill, a nineteenth-century English political economist. Political economics is the study of the relationship between, you guessed it, politics and economics. This modern version of his statement is a simple, but nonetheless profound observation – inherent in which is the cure for the Donald Trump infection that is threatening our democracy. These words should be engraved on the Capitol to remind our Representatives and Senators why we elected them – and written on the mirrors in our minds in which we see ourselves.
Even better are Mill’s actual words delivered in an 1867 speech…
Let not anyone pacify his conscience by the delusion that he can do no harm if he takes no part, and forms no opinion.
Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends than that good men should look on and do nothing.
He is not a good man who, without a protest, allows wrong to be committed in his name, and with the means which he helps to supply, because he will not trouble himself to use his mind on the subject.
If only even just a few Republicans in the House and Senate could read Mill and let their convictions follow this advice. Needless to say, you and I need to do the same.
Les Cohen is a long-term Marylander, having grown up in Annapolis. Professionally, he writes and edits materials for business and political clients from his base of operations in Columbia, Maryland. He has a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Economics. Leave a comment or feel free to send him an email to [email protected].