Topic: The Banksters
"When in Trouble, Delegate" "You can delegate authority, but you cannot delegate responsibility."by rtbohan
(libertarian)
Saturday, October 4, 2008
The quote in the title is from a book by James H. Boren(1). The quote immediately below the title is an aphorism I learned in my Management 101 class. Senator Byron Dorgan(Dem-N.D.) learned the same aphorism on his way to an M.B.A. He has used it so often in speeches that Google Search shows him as the originator of the phrase. To Senator Dorgan's credit, he not only knows the aphorism, he acts on it. He is one of the handful of Democratic Senators who voted against the Paulson Bailout and Looting Bill.
Yesterday, the Congress delegated its constitutional duty to spend money through appropriation bills specifying the use of the money. What it has done is responded to extortion from the executive branch and given a credit card to the Federal Reserve. The Paulson Bernanke "plan" is simply an implied threat of "Give me $1 Trillion and no one gets hurt."
I do not intend to minimize the current danger to the American economic system. But the plan does not mean no one will get hurt, it just means that the bankers will make out like bandits and the American people will be paying for the bailout generations into the future.And the people who are promising safety are the very ones who created the crisis by failing to act when they should have.
And the Paulson Plan([link edited for length] ), which a majority of our Senators and Representatives from both major parties voted for, may be the effective death of representative government in the United States. The members of Congress will say they had no choice because the President told them it was an emergency requiring the Congress to transfer its Constitutional oblligations to the Executive. Some will undoubtedly say later, "The president misled me". We have heard that excuse before. Some will point to earmarks in the bill, and say, "We bailed out the bankers, but we got some help for our constituents". This is like saying, "Yes, we killed representative government, but we picked the pockets of the corpse and brought the loot to you". And some will say, "Yes, we gave up the authority, but we only gave him half what he asked, and he must ask for the rest." This is a lie. Control of the entire amount has been transfered. Only half is currently accessible, but it would require the passage of a law, under the same emergency timetable, to deny access to the rest, and a law to do so might be vetoed by the President requiring a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress to make it effective.
In addition to the two quotes with which this article began, there is a third truth about delegation of authority for which I have no cute quote. A delegation of authority is the same as a transfer of authority unless there is the power and the will to take it back. The Congressmen who voted for this bill bear the responsibility for the damage they have done to representative government. I doubt that they have the will or the courage to force its return.
1. James H. Boren, Howard Chapman, WHEN IN DOUBT, MUMBLE; A BUREAUCRAT'S HANDBOOK, Van Nostrand, Reinhold Co., 1972. ISBN 0442209266 9708442209261
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The views expressed in this
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Posted By: Jake, the champion of the constitution
Date: 2008-10-04 15:05:22
rtbohan - great theme. i think you are dead on about how difficult it is to get the power back - liberty, once constricted, tends to keep going in that direction unless you have an unsatisfied majority.... or an irate minority. :)
i reviewed the article and wanted to suggest fixing a few spelling mistakes that you may want to fix. my concern is simply that spelling mistake subtract from the quality and thinking behind your articles. in the interest of timeliness i didnt see a reason to delay publishing, thats not the intent of the approval process, but if you could fix these so Walt doesnt lop my head off, would much appreciate it
"You can delegate authority, but you cannot delegate responsibility." I haevn't hared that before but it is sooo true. I would modefy it to add "When responsibility knocks - Lie!". We will undoutedley heer a lot of very big lies in the next month or so.
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