Posted on 03/18/2022 7:58:10 AM PDT by SJackson
Virtually all Americans believed, until the inauguration of Donald Trump as president on January 20, 2017, that when someone became president, he could begin to implement his agenda. Certainly Old Joe Biden’s handlers have done so with a vengeance since they took over; but when Trump became president, he immediately began to encounter resistance from entrenched members of the government bureaucracy who refused to do as he ordered. Some worked actively against Trump, while the establishment media assured us that these self-appointed “deep state” saboteurs were the courageous guardians of “our democracy.” At his South Carolina rally Saturday night, Trump continued to tease a 2024 run and made a new promise about how he would break the power of the unelected “deep state.”
“We will pass critical reforms,” Trump said, “making every executive branch employee fireable by the president of the United States. The deep state must and will be brought to heel.”
It’s a commonsensical solution, as Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance pointed out. “Everyone is losing their mind about this, but I’ve been calling for it at every town hall I do. Either the president controls the executive branch or he doesn’t. If he doesn’t, we don’t live in a Republic, we live in a civil service driven oligarchy.”
Quite so. And although the “deep state” only came to the attention of most Americans over the last few years, the controversy over the hiring and firing of civil service employees is one of the oldest controversies of the republic. As Rating America’s Presidents explains, Andrew Jackson was elected president in 1828 on promises to end the hegemony of a privileged aristocracy, and, to drain that swamp, he would need his own men in key positions. He removed a large number of civil service employees and replaced them with men of his own faction, which came to be known as the Democracy, or Democratic Party. This came to be known as the spoils system, after the old adage “To the victor belong the spoils.”
The term “spoils system” is today practically synonymous with government corruption, but Jackson began it as a blow against corruption, preventing the establishment of an entrenched bureaucracy that would oppose the president. The Trump administration made it clear that such a bureaucracy, determined to thwart the president at every turn, is a genuine concern; it is time for a reconsideration of the spoils system.
The spoils system essentially died with the assassination of President James A. Garfield in 1881. Garfield believed that the spoils system was an unending source of government corruption and pushed for measures that would end it, only to be shot by a man who publicly proclaimed that he was doing so because he belonged to the faction of the Republican party, the Stalwarts, that supported the spoils system. Garfield’s successor, Chester Arthur, was a Stalwart, but he demonstrated immense personal courage and honor in choosing to carry out the wishes of his slain predecessor rather than implement his own contrary agenda. His decision to do this effectively ended his political career, as he almost certainly knew it would, and yet he stood firm.
Whether his stance was entirely wise in the long run, however, is a separate question. Historians take for granted that civil service reform was good for the country, and there has been no significant indication that it wasn’t until quite recently, when a president was thwarted in numerous endeavors by an army of unelected bureaucrats within the various departments and agencies of the government, who were determined to impede his agenda in every way possible.
The proponents of civil service reform never envisioned a situation in which unelected and unaccountable opponents of a sitting president in the FBI, the Justice Department, and elsewhere would be determined to destroy the president — or at the very least make it impossible for him to carry out his policies — and could not be removed from their jobs because of civil service regulations.
Wouldn’t government work more smoothly, and the executive branch be able to operate more effectively in the way the Founding Fathers envisioned it would, if the president were able to clear out the employees of these agencies who opposed him and replace them with people more in line with his vision?
The spoils system has no defenders today, and has had none for over a century. It should have more. Trump is on the right track.
If Trump gets elected, I’d hope the right people would do their part & supply a list of those who need to be replaced, but I’d suspect he already knows who they are. Some might need to be frog-marched out, but that’s OK. They could raise funds by charging admission to watch something like that. Use the funds to apply to the national debt.
The Muslim Brotherhood President also trurned 4,000 fed employees into un-fireable SES positions a few weeks before he left office.
Those are top level jobs, led by Obamaites, forever. Where they wreak havoc.
R’s barely whined.
I see one problem with that proposal. The list of those needing to be replaced might be more than 25%.
And don’t replace them!
Great idea.. let’s start with bumpstock bans, restricting travel, shutting down America. Maybe it will work this time. O darn, I forgot negotiating border walls and bringing in unvented Syrians.
If the President can fire 1/4 of federal employees he could replace 100% over a 4 year therm.
Article II: The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.
Civil Service laws be damned. Outside of enumerated powers, they are unconstitutional.
Similarly, Article II vests the entire judicial power in Scotus and inferior courts.
Congress does not, unlike the UK’s Parliament, possess the entirety of legislative power. Neither can it constitutionally assign its duties to exec branch agencies.
/rant.
The Deep State oligarchs have rendered congressional elections little more than feel-good placebos.
President Trump nailed the problem and offered the solution.
There is a simple solution.
Have the UCMJ apply to all federal employees.
If they want to be insubordinate, they can spend 4 years in the brig.
If they think treason, sedition, espionage, etc., is a joke, let a few of them get the firing squad.
Have them take an oath at inauguration time, so they understand their position.
Wonderful news! I voted 3rd party in 2016 over precisely this issue - that I correctly surmised that even if Trump was a genuine conservative, he’d only trim the thorn bushes when they needed to be dug up by the roots. And sure enough he was undermined at every turn by the entrenched bureaucracy. Hopefully the electorate and not just Trump have learned this lesson and the need to dramatically reform and dis-empower the unelected government workforce.
OTOH, I appreciate the author’s point that the alternative is the spoils system - there’s a lot of corruption with that historically. Personally I’ll take personal corruption over ideological corruption any day. A man simply looking to get rich off a government position does not threaten our freedoms like a man pushing for Marxist or Woke (etc) ideologies in the same position. But it’s still a problem so anything that can be done to create a 3rd way as an improvement should be welcomed.
Eyepatch McCain
LMAO
“I will make every executive branch employee fireable by the president of the United States. The deep state must and will be brought to heel.”
***Tagline worthy.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3992415/posts?q=1&;page=389#389
But it needs to be shortened to fit into the tagline -—>
“every executive branch employee will be fireable by POTUS. The deep state must and will be brought to heel.” ~Trump
——>
“Deep state must & will be brought to heel, every exec branch employee fireable by POTUS.” ~Trump
Ruh roh, then that will be considered a wacist statement.
From my home page
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Secession
It's time for us to jettison those who reject our national values because there's no changing them. Time to secede.
We should extend the invitation to secede on a county by county basis.
While we're at it, since we'd be forming a new country, we should extend the invitation to counties in Canada and Mexico as well.
Note that this option is becoming increasingly popular.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4000029/posts
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From my home page
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Secession
It's time for us to jettison those who reject our national values because there's no changing them. Time to secede.
We should extend the invitation to secede on a county by county basis.
While we're at it, since we'd be forming a new country, we should extend the invitation to counties in Canada and Mexico as well.
Note that this option is becoming increasingly popular.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/4000029/posts
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deep State delenda est.
“Schumer’s worse than Rubio”
They’re equally terrible and have similar goals. Rubio may be worse since he’s posing as a GOP which will fool some of the people. Schumer isn’t posing as anything but what he is.
“I’d suspect he (Trump) already knows who they are.”
I wouldn’t bet on that. He hired dreadful people starting in 2016. He endorsed terrible people for five years. He’s still endorsing terrible people.
Or, as you say, he “knows who they are” who need to be replaced, but continues to keep and support them anyhow.
Right after they “Lock her up”.
get it rollin!! ...I’m behind you all the way!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.