Democracy: What You Think It Means Versus What The Establishment Thinks

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  • “Democracy.” What does that term mean? The single biggest theme of the recent campaign of Democrats and of Kamala Harris was that we had to vote for them to save “Our Democracy.”

  • If I get to summarize the meaning of “Democracy” in 25 words or less, here is my effort: “The people periodically get the opportunity to vote the current authorities out, and replace them with new authorities who will implement new policies.” (That’s 23 words.)

  • Here in the U.S. we admittedly do not have a pure Democracy, but instead a constitutional Republic, with various limitations on government powers and also power sharing among the government’s branches. However, the element of Democracy — that is, the ability of the people to demand a change of direction by exercising their power at the ballot box — is a very big part of the system, at least in theory.

  • And yet, during my post World War II lifetime, despite the theoretical promise of Democracy, the ability of the people to get some change in direction of the government through exercise of the franchise has been extremely limited. Maybe the majority approved of what they were getting, but most often when there seemed to be a vote for change, little changed. The biggest change agent by far in this period was Ronald Reagan; but to be honest the Washington establishment fought him mostly to a draw. Nixon and the two Bushes largely continued the status quo. Trump in his first term was far less effective at “draining the swamp” than I would have hoped.

  • But now we have Trump in his second term suddenly showing us what Democracy can mean in our system.

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What's Coming For Academia

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  • It’s only two weeks into the new Trump administration, and we’re seeing an incredible sea change start in the federal government.

  • In his first campaign, Trump promised to “drain the swamp,” and then when he took office he barely got started on the project during a full four year term. Maybe he was too distracted by constant investigations, lawfare, “Russia! Russia! Russia!” and the like. But this time it’s much different.

  • The big news of the past day or two is the beginning of purges at DOJ, the FBI, and USAID. Those thoroughly corrupt institutions are very good places to start in these early weeks. But they are barely the tip of the iceberg of corrupt institutions ripe for upending.

  • One place that is about to get hit by the whirlwind is academia.

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Next Up: Humphrey's Executor

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  • Back in November, I attended the annual convention of the Federalist Society in Washington. If you should want to understand the constitutional law issues confronting this country after a century of corruption of our institutions by the progressive movement, I would highly recommend that you start attending these annual events as well.

  • Last November’s convention took place on the 14th to 16th of the month — in other words, just over a week after Donald Trump had been elected to serve another term as President.

  • One of the panels that I attended on November 15th had the title “What Is the Future of Administrative Law?” I’ve provided a link there where you can actually watch the panel if you have the time and inclination. There was a great group of presenters that included the likes of Paul Clement (pre-eminent Supreme Court advocate), Judge Naomi Rao (of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals), and perhaps most notably, Professor Philip Hamburger of Columbia Law School (author of the book “Is Administrative Law Unlawful?” — probably the most important constitutional law book of this century so far).

  • During the audience question part of the program, someone asked, what do you see as the next big issues that will be decided by the Supreme Court? One of the panelists (I think it was Hamburger) answered, “ I think Humphrey’s Executor will be reconsidered.”

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It's Time To Purge The Climate Scam From The Federal Websites

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  • On November 12, 2024 — a week after the election — I had a post titled “Ideas For An Incoming Trump Administration: Climate And Energy Edition.” The first subject covered in that post was “Communications.” I stated there:

  • [C]hanging the communications of the prior administration should be an easy and obvious first priority. However, the Trump people notably did a poor job on this subject the first time out. The subject of climate and energy is pervasive through the websites of dozens of federal agencies.

  • I had followed the EPA website in particular during the first Trump term, and it had been little changed even a year after Trump took office.

  • This time around, Trump and his people are doing a far better job of hitting the ground running on many issues. That is notably true in the area of climate and energy communications:

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How To Rescind The Endangerment Finding In A Way That Will Stick

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  • As discussed in my previous post, one of President Trump’s first-day Executive Orders — the one entitled “Unleashing American Energy” — directed a reconsideration of EPA’s so-called “Endangerment Finding” (EF) of 2009. The EF is the EPA regulatory action where it claimed to determine that CO2 and other “greenhouse gases” qualify as “pollutants” under the Clean Air Act because they are a “danger to public health and welfare.” President Trump’s January 20 EO directs that EPA, within 30 days, submit “recommendations to the Director of OMB on the legality and continuing applicability of the Administrator’s findings.”

  • Since the EF is the foundation underlying all the Biden-era regulations restricting and suppressing fossil fuels, you can be sure that any attempt to eliminate it will be met with a full-bore litigation attack from the forces of the crazy left.

  • Can the EF really be rescinded in a way that will stand up to these attacks?

  • Absolutely, it can.

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The Endangerment Finding: It Looks Like Trump 2.0 Will Be Much More Fun Than Trump 1.0

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  • The first couple of days of the new Trump administration have seen the President sign a blizzard of Executive Orders. These provide more material than a humble solo blogger like myself can ever comment on comprehensively.

  • So I’ll just have to start with one particular item that I am deeply familiar with: the EPA’s so-called Endangerment Finding of December 2009.

  • I have seen differing counts of the number of Trump’s first-day EOs. ABC News here counts 42.

  • One of the most consequential has the title “Unleashing American Energy.” There is a large amount of important material in this EO. In overall summary, it directs the reversal of all of the Biden administration efforts to restrict and suppress the production and development of America’s energy resources.

  • But one provision, I would argue, is important above all the rest. That is Section 6(f), which directs a reconsideration of the so-called Endangerment Finding (EF) of December 2009.

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