Jay Ambrose: Fighting back against the administrative state

Goodbye liberty, goodbye democracy, goodbye limited government and hello administrative state. Here is a mishmash of countless federal agencies dictating how we live with little if any reference to rights and constitutional safeguards, and that brings us to the Consumer Financial Protection Agency.

It happens to be in the headlines now because the Trump administration is in the process of saving us from its contribution to this leftist, destructive authoritarianism that Democrats persistently embrace.

This super- powerful agency well represents their vision of a New America that has been emerging for quite awhile but was grotesquely amplified under the presidency of Barack Obama. In this instance, there was jubilant assistance from Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

When the Dodd-Frank financial reform law was sadly being created, this Democrat from Massachusetts fought for the legislation to include an agency encompassing her deepest dreams. Avoiding special- interest politics, it would have investigative, regulatory and juridical powers. The purpose sounded good: Bureaucratic magnificoes would prevent fraud by financial services in advertising, contractual language or other sneakiness.

But what the agency actually avoided was accountability to the American people. It dubiously got its funding from the Federal Reserve, meaning Congress had a smaller handle on waywardness. Oversight? Ha! Time and again, even with the virtual imprisonment of a free enterprise activity, the agency did not provide Congress with the information requested.

It was however as political as political gets, signing on Democrats with Republicans not even considered, according to one whistleblower. It paid some $ 45 million in contracts for advertising and research to an advertising agency that played a central role in President Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, the Daily Caller reported. Its employees donated $ 50,000 to Democratic candidates.

Confusion has been an agency specialty, as an alert analysis shows. For example, to prevent poor people from buying houses they cannot afford, the agency devised complications preventing people from buying houses they can afford. Similarly, to crack down on what it considered unfair payday loan policies, it made it impossible for vast numbers to get loans they badly needed.

At any rate, the agency’s chief, someone initially appointed illegally to his job by Obama, is stepping down and himself illegally told the deputy director to take over. An excuse was that the law establishing the agency said the deputy director should fill in when the director was absent or unavailable.

It did not say, however, that the person should grab the reins when the spot was vacated. Since vacating is what happened, President Donald Trump clearly had the replacement prerogative and chose Mick Mulvaney, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, as acting director. The deputy director, still dwelling in the agency’s state of confusion, filed a lawsuit against the move and a judge, in so many words, said, “Are you kidding?!”

Mulvaney’s mission is to inhibit new malfunctions, one small but vital step against an administrative state described by a law professor quoted online as “the power to make binding rules without law, outside the law, or against the law, exercised by someone other than an elected legislature.”

We live in a swamp of often illicit regulations, and there are so many no one can know what they all are, enforce them or even count them. Some contradict each other, they affect things big and tiny and are executed by scores of federal agencies. I just recently read that no one knows the number of federal agencies, either. They just keep growing – it was noted that Obamacare alone gave rise to 159 new units of one kind of another.

Federal roles constitutionally reserved for the legislative and judicial branches of government have been usurped, but Congress, which has helped facilitate a lot of this, is beginning to fight back, as is the Trump administration through regulation rollbacks and other means.

Do your job Mulvaney, and hallelujah.

I have always dreamed of being rich. If I were rich, I could travel the world enjoying all kinds of wonderful things. I could own homes in different parts of the country, I could drive expensive cars, could eat in the finest restaurants and belong to country clubs.

The problem with being rich is that you have to work hard for your money (unless you inherit your riches). The rich always seem to be worrying about their money. How can I make more, how can I lose less, why is the government taking so much of my money in taxes? They are constantly checking the stock market to see how their investments are doing.

I have several friends who are wealthy. One, who I’ll call George, is a multimillionaire who owns a company that deals mostly in government contracts. He and his wife own million- dollar homes in Alabama and a beachfront home in Florida. I feel sorry for George. He spends most of his time complaining about government. He hates city, county, state and federal government. He is constantly in a tirade, complaining about something. He hates public school teachers. He says they are overpaid, incompetent, and only work nine months a year. I was a public school teacher and the most money I ever made was $25,000 per year. I retired in 1990.

Several years ago we became friends with George and his wife on a cruise. We usually take one to four cruises per year with them. George takes 10 to 15 cruises per year. On one cruise, he was complaining about his taxes “I paid $250,000 in taxes last year.” I said “George, nothing would please me more than to have to pay $250,000 in taxes. That would make me as rich as you.”

George is paranoid about money. He collects gold and silver coins and buries them in his yard. He carries $50,000 worth of coins in the trunk of his car - “JUST IN CASE”.

I have another friend who became wealthy through hard work and good investments. His only problem was that he was such a cheapskate. When a group of us guys would go to a bar and drink beer, we took turns paying for rounds. He never passed up one of our beers, but he was never known to have ever paid for a round. When he retired, I said, “John, why don’t you take your wife on a two-month tour of Europe. Enjoy yourself, you deserve it.” John said, “No need to watch my money, I may come down with a terrible disease and need it.”

If you come down with a terrible disease you’re going to die. Have you worked hard all your life to accumulate money in order to give it to some rich doctor? John died wealthy.

My friend Timothy rose from being an auto mechanic to be the owner of several businesses. He has worked hard all his life, and managed to accumulate a lot of money. He is now 75 years old and still works hard every day. He very seldom takes a vacation. I think his pleasure comes from making a lot of money. When he dies his ne’er-do-well children will be happy to spend every penny.

I was at a party recently talking to a friend who owns an investment firm. I have Pulmonary Fibrosis and need supplemental oxygen. I was telling him about this new medicine that is supposed to treat my problem. The medicine costs $8100 per month, and I get it free. My friend got red in the face and screamed “do you know who’s paying for that medicine? It’s me and people like me who am paying taxes.” I didn’t tell him that I also pay taxes and have three kinds of insurance. I have Georgia teacher insurance, Medicare, and tri-care for life as a retired Air Force Sgt.