Too Many Laws

A quick online search reveals that an exact count of Federal Crimes is unknown.  There is the distinction between laws and the various regulations that inevitably sprout from those laws.  One estimate from 2015 stated that there were "at least 5,000 federal criminal laws, with 10,000-300,000 regulations."  It is the responsibility of the executive branch to enforce all these laws  However, as we have seen, there is a lot of wiggle room.  Obama opted to overlook immigration laws even while he enacted new laws like the Affordable Car Act and Dodd-Frank Act.  Even with the vast resources of the US government, only so much can be accomplished.  Thanks to this vast sea of laws, executive discretion has more impact than Congressional legislation.  Immigration law appears to flipped on a dime in the wake of Trump's inauguration but it is just that he has chosen to enforce laws that Obama put on the back burner.  Moreover, Trump has already put Obama's emphasis on Climate Change on the back burner.  One country, one set of laws, two dramatically different outcomes based on who occupies the White House.  To prevent these swings, we need to rollback the scope of the Federal Government.

 

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

10th Amendment of Constitution

 

The Constitution grants no authority over education: Abolish Department of Education.

 

The Constitution grants no authority over healthcare: Abolish Department of Health and Human Services.

 

The Constitution grants no authority over farming: Abolish Department of Agriculture.

 

The Constitution grants no authority over labor: Abolish Department of Labor.

 

The Constitution grants no authority over housing: Abolish Department of Housing and Urban Development.

 

The Constitution grants no authority over energy: Abolish the Department of Energy.

 

All of these departments were power grabs by the central government.  Homeland Security is the latest new department but at least there is authority granted in the Constitution for national defense.  Even so, we should abolish this one too.  Return it all to the states or the people and, if there is an actual need, they are more than capable of resolving it on the more local level.

 

Paring back the scope of government would dramatically limit the discretion of the executive.  Thus, a change in the head of state would have far less impact than it does today.

 

Based on 2009 numbers, the abolition of the above departments would result in $1.3 trillion in in savings and a reduction in the federal workforce of 560,000 people.  Let's see, divide 1.3 trillion by 330 million and you get $3,940 per person in the US.  Of course, the budget has gone way up since then so the dividend would be even bigger.