Let’s face it, America is broke, and Washington is broken. The United States Congress no longer legislates. That job has been outsourced to the fourth branch of government, the so-called “deep state,” the unelected bureaucrats that make up the administrative state.
According to the Federal Register there are 438 agencies operating in the Federal Government. They are composed of 2.7 million employees, and you did not vote for any of them. They make rules and regulations that carry the power of law, including fines, penalties and in some instances prison sentences. They also spend your tax dollars, all of it and more. These are nameless faceless bureaucrats.
Why should you care about this fourth branch of government? Because they are a busy bunch. In 2016, our Congress passed, and the president signed into law 214 bills. That same year the administrative state, the unelected folks working at these Federal departments, agencies, and commissions issued 3,853 rules and regulations that carry power of law. That is eighteen rules for every law passed.
These rules come with a price tag, both in terms of money spent by government and in terms of making it harder for the little guy, the citizen and small businessman (a.k.a. “the Middle Class”) to make a buck, save a buck, get a job, buy a home, pursue their own American dream.
So, what can we do about it? We can use the Constitution.
Our founders expressly gave state legislatures the power to propose amendments through Article V for the purpose of reining in an out-of-control federal government.
The movement to save America has already begun. Find out about it at www.conventionofstates.com.
Scott W. Bates
West Des Moines, Iowa
Physicians for COS
The diagnosis is clear.
We have a growing cancer today known as the Obamacare. As a result physicians are no longer free to practice medicine.No profession feels the full force of the federal government more than physicians. The medical profession is the most highly regulated profession in the United States. The practice of medicine is controlled, taxed, and regulated to the point of being destroyed by the heavy hand of the federal government.
Physicians are told how to bill, how much to charge, and how to treat patients. They are mandated to use expensive electronic medical records. The federally enacted HIPPA (Health Information Privacy and Portability Act) makes the communication between physicians and atients burdensome, inefficient,and expensive. Every physician is required by federal mandate to register with the government to obtain an NPI (national provider identifier.) We are required by federal law to obtain and pay for a license to prescribe medication through the DEA, which is separate from our state licensure.
This heavy hand of government not only oversees the largest federal health bureaucracy ever created, but by extension reaches into every state, every city, and every small town to regulate how every licensed physician practices the art of medicine and how citizens obtain care.
The treatment is also clear.
The prescription for a cure was written into our constitution by our founders. Article V of our constitution allows for the states to call for a convention of states to limit the power and jurisdiction of the federal government through the proposal of constitutional amendments. Physicians should be the strongest supporters of this brilliantly-crafted states’ rights tool placed into our constitution by our founders.
I urge my fellow American physicians to join with me in supporting an Article V Convention of States to take back control of the practice of medicine. It’s the only way that we can return the practice of medicine back to the intimate relationship between a doctor and patient without interference by the heavy hand of a distant, national government.
Jeffrey I. Barke, M.D. Family Physician Newport Beach, CA