Article II of the Constitution, in Section 1, has saddled us with the Electoral College. This element in the election process was most definitely needed during the Nation's first century. Communication was slow, the electors traveled on horseback and wagon until the railroads came along. Today, we need to do away with the Electoral College. Forget the magic number 268 (50% + 1 members of the EC) and go for 51% of the popular vote. We need an amendment that does away with Section 1, Paragraphs 2, 3, and 4, replacing them with "The eligible voters amongst the population of the United States shall choose, by popular vote, the President and Vice President of the United States. Such election shall occur on the first Tuesday of November." The amendment should also add at the end of Section 1 Paragraph 5 the line "No candidate for President or Vice President shall have been convicted of a felony in these United States."
Section 2 delineates the powers of the President. In order for the President to comply with this provision of the Constitution, he needs a lot of help - it's more than one man can handle. Additionally Section 8 of Article I delineates items the Congress must do. Together, these two sections in essence lay out what departments and agencies should make up the Executive Branch. This is where it can get lengthy. As best I can determine, today, the Executive Branch is comprised of 15 Departments, 48 Agencies, and 24 Commissions and Councils. Some of these are required, Constitutionally, others are not. I'll tell you who and what I believe we're required to have, and which we're not, with the Cabinet Level Departments in this article and the agencies in a seperate article.
As mentioned, we have 15 Cabinet Level Departments, in order of Seniority, they are the Departments of State, Treasury, Defense, Justice, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Energy, Education, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security. Additionally, the Council of Economic Advisors, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Management and Budget, the United States Trade Representative, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, and the Ptresident's Chief of Staff are also members of the Cabinet. (www.whitehouse.gov) The Cabinet, itself, goes back to President Washington and is comprised of high level government officials who provide advice to the President in there areas of expertise. As far as I'm concerned, the President is required, by common sense if nothing else, to surround himself with advisors whom he knows and trusts. My concern is the departments themselves.
Article II, Section 2, Paragraph 1 makes the President Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and the Preamble states that the Constitution will provide for the common defense of the Nation. To do that we must have a Department of Defense and a Department of Homeland Security, we also must have a Department of Veteran Affairs to take care of veterans of our uniformed military services. The non-military Federal employees have unions to take care of them. That same paragraph gives the President certain legal functions to perform, and for that we have the Department of Justice.
Article II, Section 2, Paragraph 2 directs that the President make all treaties with other Nations. That's the Constitutional basis for the Department of State.
Article I, Section 8 assigns certain responsibilities to the Congress. However, to make those functions actually work, specific departments of the Executive Branch have had to be created. These would include the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Health and Human Services.
That pretty much sums up the Constitutionally required Executive Branch Departments. There is no Constitutional Basis for the Department of the Interior (although there is for one of its subordinate agencies, the Bureau of Indian Affairs); the Department of Agriculture; the Department of Commerce (although there is for two of its subordinate agencies, the Bureau of the Census and the Patent and Trademark Office); the Department of Labor; the Department of Housing and Urban Development; the Department of Transportation; the Department of Energy; and the Department of Education. That's not to say that some of their subordinate agencies don't provide a viable and needed service, they do. But these departments are not authorized by the Constitution and, as departments, should be shut down.
I do have a couple of problems with two agencies listed in the President's Cabinet. The United States Trade Representative negotiates, directly, with foreign governments. In that case, this agency should be a part of the Department of State. Finally, the Ambassador to the United Nations is a member of the Cabinet. This is incongruous, as she reports to the Secretary of State. It's a poor leadership technique to have a subordinate report directly to your boss. If it was a good technique, than the Secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force would be in the Cabinet as well.
May the Lord look out for our first responders.
Gunner Sends
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