Process Matters

Process matters. How we do something is as important as the what and the why in government. I'm an institutionalist. And I'm worried about the long term ramifications of what we're seeing happening. 

I'm all for putting in the work to streamline our national budget. We need to examine for waste, fraud, and abuse. I would argue the largest factor is waste with a lot of redundancies. We can do what we can to increase efficiency. But the executive needs to be restrained in how they do it. For two major reasons. 

One, congress is delegated the purse. Period. Article one of the Constitution. Congress handles the budget and taxation. The most democratic portion of the the entire federal system (the house) is supposed to originate all related legislation. It's their job to fix this. To work on it. Now the executive can veto and can provide guidance. They're in the perfect place to address these issues. They could impound and work with congress through the proper procedures and channels. They could be more proactive and dynamic. But wholesale elimination of legislatively delineated departments and budgets is not that. 

Second, the government is meant to be inefficient. I know that may sound strange, but congress was meant to be a cooling saucer to the house. Debate was supposed to rage. The courts don't move quickly. It's meant to have representation providing constant input that is weighed, measured, and then acted upon. 

We've placed too much power in the executive branch. We've leaned on the courts too much. Congress needs to do their damn job. And we as a people need to reread our Constitution. This isn't the way the founders wanted this to go at all.