If you thought the President ran the executive department . . .
- Thread starter CO. Hoosier
- Start date
We'll be hearing quite a bit about the unitary executive theory in the coming months.
The Supreme Court will be making some big calls that will have an enormous impact on the direction of this presidency - - - - and the country.
Selective outrage. As if the Executive Branch never usurped the power of the other two branches.
My definition of Great America includes a balance of power among the three branches.
They are 100% going to look at this issue, but I would imagine that the Supremes are looking for the perfect case to make a ruling.
90% of executive orders are not self-executing, which means an agency must do so. Surely you know that an Agency's actions would also be subject to judicial review. It would behoove you to read the entire opinion
CoH, on the subject of government power, IMO the Pubs lean in the direction of the state's having more power.
Furthermore with the current Supremes being inclined to award the state's more power (as in the abortion decision), and with a majority of the state legislatures being Republican, the power of government has shifted to more power for the Pubs.
On top of that, there is the subject of implied Presidential powers. Powers which can be interpreted by the Supremes as not being spelled out in the Constitution but implied Presidential power.
Buckle up America, the Republicans are holding the power in all the right places.
After the election when they started talking about what Muck and DOGE were going to do, I immediately thought that they'd partner up with GAO. It's the obviously logical thing to do. GAO's website has a lot of great reports about this stuff that would be very helpful to anyone really looking to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse, and GAO personnel are experts at finding it. Sadly, Congress and administrations aren't experts at doing a lot about what GAO finds. It's incredible that DOGE hasn't bothered to work with GAO.
U.S. Government Accountability Office (U.S. GAO)
GAO provides fact-based, nonpartisan information to Congress. Often called the "congressional watchdog," GAO investigates federal spending and performance.
The case that the Trump administration wants overturned (and this was articulated in Project 2025) is Humphrey’s Executor v. United States. In that 1935 decision, the Court held that the President (then FDR) does not have unfettered power to fire independent agency heads.
There is already a case in the pipeline that will likely bring this to a head, no pun intended. Wilcox v. Trump addresses Trump’s firing, without cause, of NLRB board member Gwen Wilcox. I predict this will go all the way up.
You can’t make this stuff up. Every one of the many GAO recommendations should have already been SOP. That’s the problem. I wonder how long it took the GAO to do this study and what it cost. The report is the problem not the solution.Actually Musk and his whiz kids didn't do shit. The GAO already prepared a report in 2024, taking data that existed as of fiscal year 2021.
Federal Software Licenses: Agencies Need to Take Action to Achieve Additional Savings
Federal agencies buy thousands of software licenses annually. Across the 24 agencies we examined, 10 vendors accounted for the majority of the most...www.gao.gov
It is a little more complicated than what you think, and not quite exactly what you are saying
People thought rocket science was complicated; until Musk’s Merlin engine and the Falcon Rocket. Boeing, Lockheed, or NASA couldn’t do what he did.
Complications come from group-think, bureaucracy, and lack of creativity and responsibility.
States have all the power now. (10th Amendment). The only limit is federal preemption and the 14th Amendment. Most on the left don’t understand these basics.
Is democracy a problem here?
The doctrine of implied power is only an assist to carry out express power. It doesn’t expand express powers.
Common sense rules.
EO’s only apply to agencies instrumentalities, and departments of the federal government.
Saying EO’s are not self executing is like saying Brown v Board of education isn’t self executing. It takes the DOJ and local school boards to make it effective. Usinfg the APA to thwart an EO because an agency obeys it is crazy.
But I agree, there is an issue if an agency exceeds the parameters of the EO.
Can you tell us exactly how much has been saved by Musk through this software issue? He found the same problem the GAO already found, hardly Mt Rushmore material. So for him to get credit, was he able to return software to vendors for a credit?
He didn't find diddly. He just read the report. I have no doubt that he wouldn't have the time or the inclination but got his hands on the GAO report without knowing a lick about what was implemented or not.
You guys are barking up the wrong tree.
The issue with the software is that it happens, and I bet that is not the only example of non-existent, lax, or loosey-goosey government management of its own operations. Moreover, there now won’t be any “should take action” type of commands like in the GAO report. The message needs to be fix the problem or find another job.
On the subject of common sense rules, it can be mentioned people exercise common sense by simplifying complex issues into simple phrases and solutions.
For example, my business partner simplified his take on politics by quoting his father who once said, "Democrats want to give people a hand out, and Repulicans want to give them a hand up".
Guess my hope for our future is common sense to a large extent will be replaced by AI given our future requires solving some very complex problems (I.e. global warming and the federal debt crisis).
No wrong tree, he has done nothing on the issue. You cannot name a penny he has saved on software.
Firing all probationary people isn't a plan. Doubtless there were damn good employees fired and damn poor ones kept. It was nothing but the Japanese banzai attack. No plan, no recon, no smarts. Jump up and run that way. Those attacks allowed us to kill a lot of Japanese at a lower cost to Americans.
This is that, do it. It is in itself going to create a lot of waste. And we now know Russian and Chinese intel services are trying to recruit from that pool. Probationary employees include good employees rewarded with a promotion.
No plan, do, is what got the Titanic submarine dude killed
Musk simplified everything about rocket engines, rockets, procurement, auto development, and even securing government contracts and benefits.
There are very good reasons why he not only revolutionized how to put stuff into orbit, but was able to do it at a fraction of the previous cost. I want that guy to look at everything.
But also land the MF'er back on earth and catch it to reuse later.
I think we have a full capture test, booster and orbital capsule, tomorrow. Don't we?
Of course he is too ignorant to trim DC failed** lawyers turned politicians.
** Failed Private sector so they turn to the public cesspool gravy train with all of the insulation of failure.
Musk developed and refined first principles thinking into very productive endeavors. To be good at this, you must abandon the comfort and security of consensus and group think and willingly accept the increased risks of independent thinking. Space X is a perfect example. So is DOGE. Musk taking incoming is expected and part of the process.
First Principles: Elon Musk on the Power of Thinking for Yourself
Read this article to learn how brilliant minds like Elon Musk use first principles thinking to solve difficult problems and develop innovative solutions.
jamesclear.com
CoH, thought your reference about common sense was about the 10th Amendment and the ultimate power of We the People exercising their common sense.
Wasn't thinking about Musk and his role in assisting our President exercise what they consider using constitutional power.
On a personal note, see Musk as more of a highly intelligent elite than an ordinary citizen exercising common sense as called for in the 10th Amendment.
Don’t agree. The cabinet group he has assembled is the smartest, most independent and I think decisive in decades. That doesn’t look like consolidation.
But even if he is consolidating executive power into the Oval Office, why is that a problem? We haven’t had a hall of fame executive branch the last four years.
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Musk is many things beyond using the common sense of first principles. He certainly is an elite thinker, but I don’t see him as an accomplished elite like Obama or a wannabe elite like Harris. Musk is simply in a different place.
There was a guiding principle at my last employer, Responsible freedom. Group think and simply doing what we've always done gets us no where (ironically just like legacy DC and the admin state and all of those HIGHLY qualified public employees that someone here loves to defend). Failure is not only Okay, but expected as long as it is done responsibly.Musk developed and refined first principles thinking into very productive endeavors. To be good at this, you must abandon the comfort and security of consensus and group think and willingly accept the increased risks of independent thinking. Space X is a perfect example. So is DOGE. Musk taking incoming is expected and part of the process.
First Principles: Elon Musk on the Power of Thinking for Yourself
Read this article to learn how brilliant minds like Elon Musk use first principles thinking to solve difficult problems and develop innovative solutions.
There are 10 things learned from every failure, zero learned from just doing what we've always done.
There is a reason that so many are fighting this, they are sheep and their #1 hierarchical need is safety from responsibility. They would rather we ALL lose for 80 years, than them helping towards a win while creating a 1st try losing idea. Total Group think.
The more power you consolidate to one person in the executive, the further away you get from "the people". During Obama's term you used to point out that people were putting too much faith in a unitary executive and that power should really be derived through Congress. Your current position appears to run in opposition to that line of thought.
Setting up the top down management and consolidation of decision making in the manner that is occurring now is the type of thinking that used to separate us from our adversaries, to their detriment. Nobody has the authority to make any decisions without the rubber stamp of the dictator/politburo/party/etc. It runs counter to the thinking we have had in our armed forces where subordinates were given some latitude to perform on the fly.
Now, I think Trump had some reasonable issues with some members of government in his first administration and I pointed those out. That has been conflated to ALL government bad. This idea that they don't have the capacity to work through a laid out plan isn't really a ringing endorsement of their managerial abilities. Not everything is a computer program or tech start up that can be deleted and rebooted without causing massive issues.
Also, Tom Mueller is the brains behind Space X. Musk is the financier.
I’ll save this post for when the Ds do the same thing in the future. Trading our principles for political expediency is not a positive for this country.
Meanwhile SpaceX chugs along, breaking new barriers and Mueller has been retired five years. I’ve seen a similar criticism wrt to Tesla. That one is also FOS.
Musk is the visionary behind his companies. Full stop.
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