The List

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If you have heard me speak at an event, you have heard me mention “The List”. If not, this is a list of departments and functions that I believe can be cut (or drastically reduced in size and responsibility) from the federal government. It is certainly not comprehensive, or in any particular order, however it is a good start!

Once the government creates another agency, or another program through legislation, it rarely if ever is eliminated. There are no adequate attempts to fix problems created by them. It is long past time to revisit every single agency within the federal government and this list is an attempt at doing so.

1- Department of Education – Since this department started under President Carter, reading and math scores have been in steady decline. Constantly dumping tax dollars into a project to improve education, seeing no improvement, and continuously doing the same each year is insanity. Education issues should be handled at the state and local level. All legislation that deals with the federal government and education should also be eliminated: Head Start, No Child Left Behind, 21st Century Community Learning Centers, etc.

2- Federal Communications Commission (FCC) – The majority of what it is responsible for is unconstitutional. Regulation of free speech over television, radio, internet, etc. is dangerous. Who decides what is “acceptable”? The few acceptable duties, such as intervening in disputes of broadcasting companies that involve crossing state lines, can be handled by another agency. Recent suggestions for regulating the internet are unconstitutional in my opinion.

3- Food and Drug Administration – What logical company that produces food or medicine would want to harm or kill their customers? Experimental drugs for people who may be dying of a terminal disease cannot be tried because they have not been approved for public use. Anyone who has had a family member die before being able to try all outlets at survival can understand why this government bureaucracy just gets in the way. Consumer advocacy groups can handle these matters much better than a government agency.

4- Social Security Administration – See my comprehensive plan for reform.

5- Internal Revenue Service – See my comprehensive plan for reform.

6- Department of Energy – Take a look at what it is supposed to be doing. Since its inception in 1977, one of its goals is to reduce dependence on foreign oil by researching renewable energy sources, etc. How many decades have we had to listen to our leaders talk about “reducing our dependence on foreign oil”? Nothing ever happens as usual and it has failed in its research to provide any substantial alternative energy.. Another responsibility that the department has is to study nuclear power, nuclear weapons and cleanup. The majority of those duties can be handled by the Pentagon. The DOE’s annual budget in 2009 was $24.1 billion. This went to $26.4 billion in 2010, and does not include an additional $38.3 billion for 2009 and 2010 as provided for by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

7- Drug Enforcement Administration – The “War on Drugs” is a failure. Prohibition did not eliminate the use of alcohol by citizens and prohibition was eventually eliminated. It created underground businesses run by criminals, gangs and violence…just as prohibiting drugs has done. There is no way to legislate what someone puts in their own body of their own free will. Current illegal drugs should be controlled as alcohol and tobacco is today.

8- Repeal the stimulus bills and return the money to the treasury that is still left unspent. There is no doubt that this money was just created by the Federal Reserve Bank, so it is better left to remove it from the current money supply…that is, if we keep track of how much currency is out in the marketplace these days.

9- Eliminate the Federal Reserve Bank – I support Congressman Ron Paul’s constant fight to have the Federal Reserve audited. Once everyone sees how destructive it has been to our economy and country, calls for its elimination will get more popular. It is estimated that since its inception in 1913, the American Dollar has lost over 90% of its value. Its attempts at reducing inflation and controlling interest rates have been failures. The free market should determine these issues. The Constitution provides Congress with the power to “coin money.” Delegating this duty to a “private” banking institution has been destructive.

10- Eliminate obsolete weapons programs that the military no longer needs or wants, but the spending and production still occurs due to lobbyists and political corruption.

11- Close the vast majority (if not all) of our military bases overseas. We cannot afford the empire that our leaders have built. Many of those countries do not want our bases in their countries (there are demonstrations every year in Japan for our military to leave). All our bases do is create resentment, distrust, and a constant need to fund the empire. Our military’s primary use is to defend our country. With our forces spread out all across the world, we are not defending our country. We would not accept a foreign government placing a military base in our country, and we should not be forcing or coercing other countries to allow us to do the same.

12- The United States Department of Transportation – Annual budget requested for fiscal year 2011 was $79 billion. Its mission is listed to: “Serve the United States by ensuring a fast, safe, efficient, accessible and convenient transportation system that meets our vital national interests and enhances the quality of life of the American people, today and into the future.” All of this work is mainly done by the individual state agencies that are responsible for transportation in their own jurisdictions. What commonly happens is legislation that gets passed by Congress to bully states into national standards. In the term of the 111th Congress, Congressman Todd Platts introduced HR 4153 which bullies the states into enacting laws for distracted driving laws (cell phone usage while driving, texting while driving) or federal funds from the DOT would be withheld. This occurs quite often as is evident in highway speed laws and the levels of what is considered to be driving under the influence of alcohol. This is coercion and needs to be stopped. The states will do what they think is best for their own citizens, and they should not be subjected to bullying tactics by Congress.

13- Transportation Security Administration – This was quickly invigorated in the wake of September 11, 2001 and federalized all airline security personnel. Security is better left to the individual airports and airline carriers as they have a more vested interest in protecting their customers and property. In the last decade, the few terrorists that boarded planes bent on exploding items in their possession, were not caught by TSA employees, but by alert passengers on the planes. Many arguments can be made about the constitutionality of current screening procedures as well. Prior to the TSA, the hijackers on 9/11 hijacked planes with $2 box cutting knives. The billions spent since then has not made us more secure. If this video does not make you think that the TSA not only can but should be eliminated, then I do not know what will.

14- Department of Agriculture – It can be argued that what most of this department now benefits is large agribusinesses and not small farmers. Its official list of responsibilities state that it is responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food, to promote agricultural trade and production, and ending hunger in the United States and abroad. With a budget of over $100 billion a year, serious consideration needs to be made on elimination of this department.

15 – The U.S. Post Office – Even though this is supposed to be a “quasi government entity,” it continues to lose money every year. Federal Express, UPS and others continue to make a profit with competition amongst each other. There is no reason why all USPS property cannot be sold to private businesses and mail service completed by the free market. It would no doubt be cheaper, more innovative, and certainly cost effective to the federal government’s budget (since it continues to bail out the USPS).