In states across the country, Americans are sheltering in place on the order of non-elected health officials. While some of these orders ostensibly come from governors and mayors, bureaucrats have actually superseded elected officials in some states.
These decisions are not necessarily wrong. In the face of a pandemic, aggressive action may be necessary. However, as with any government action, the question on the minds of all Americans should be, "Who decides?"
Should non-elected bureaucrats have the power to shut down the economy of a county or state -- or should county commissioners and state legislatures?
As Prof. Rob Natelson explained in a recent editorial about Colorado's stay-at-home orders, these bureaucracies have been empowered by the very representatives who should be responsible for making the tough decisions:
Every sensible person recognizes the need for government action in the current pandemic. But elected officials ought to be the ones who make decisions this important and this sweeping—especially when those decisions are backed by the full weight of the criminal law. (Violation of a state health order is punishable by a $1000 fine and up to a year in jail. CRS 25-1-114.)
The fundamental problem is that state law simply delegates too much power to these agencies. Normally, we think of a public health order as a rather modest thing, such as requiring a restaurant to clean up its kitchen or a company to stop polluting a water supply. But state law authorizes unilateral health department actions that far exceed such modest levels.
State law grants county agencies power to close schools and limit gatherings. It authorizes them to “control the causes of epidemic or communicable diseases and conditions affecting public health” and to “establish, maintain, and enforce isolation and quarantine” and “to exercise physical control over property and over the persons of the people within the jurisdiction of the agency as the agency may find necessary for the protection of the public health.” (CRS 25-1-506)
Those are truly massive powers. With a little creativity, county agencies can justify doing almost anything—as in fact, they just have.
These problems become even bigger on the national level. The U.S. Congress has granted unprecedented power to the federal bureaucracy, which takes advantage of that power to control the daily lives of the American people.
This overreach is more visible in a crisis, but it's always a problem. Once we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, we need a way to make sure that only Congress has the power to create policies that have the force of law.
Congress will never wrest power from the bureaucrats, which is why we must do it for them.
An Article V Convention of States is called and controlled by the states and has the power to propose constitutional amendments that limit the power of the federal government -- including federal agencies.
These amendments can also shrink federal jurisdiction, meaning it can shrink the aspects of American life that come under federal control. With these amendments in place, all the things federal bureaucrats currently manage -- from healthcare to education to the environment -- will be left to the states and the people.
The COVID-19 crisis has forced Americans to confront federal overreach head-on -- and they don't like what they see. A Convention of States can address many of their concerns, and millions of Americans have already joined the movement. To add your name to the list, sign the Convention of States Petition below!
