Administrative Law?

I read an interesting article on the growth of administrative law, that is, rules and regulations handed down by unelected bureaucrats.  The increase in the number of us rules and regulations is striking and why we tolerate them is beyond me (other than we're too busy with the NFL, American Idol, or how poorly the Michigan football team is doing).  This is especially so since such rules and regulations, remember handed down by people we don't elect, usually have the effect of law.  That is, you can be punished if you don't follow them--fines, jail, etc.

I think administrative law might well be unconstitutional.  After all the Constitution itself reads. "All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States......"  It doesn't say "Some legislative powers" or "Most legislative powers."  I'm aware of Nondelegation Theory and that is not absolute.  But the Supremes have ruled that Congress may delegate some of its legislative authority if such delegation is accompanied by "intelligible" guidelines.

"Intelligible?"  Hmmm......  Let's look at the current US Tax Code.  It is composed of almost 75,000 pages--not 7,500, but 75,000!  How "intelligible" can that be?  (I am aware of the challenges to this number, mostly made by, you guessed it, bureaucrats.  The actual federal tax law is more than 2,600 pages.  Toss in, though, more than 10,000 pages of IRS rulings, guidelines, regulations, and other junk.  We also have thousands of pages of US Tax Court rulings.  As Casey Stengel used to say, "You could look it up.")  For a long time the Wall Street Journal conducted a phone survey of IRS offices, calling the IRS offices for each state, or at least around the country.  For the exact same question, dozens of IRS answers were given--by the IRS itself!  And, remember too, if you don't follow the rules and regulations, you can be punished--fines, jail, garnishment, etc.--just as if you had broken the actual law.

Let's also consider that such administrative laws can be arbitrary, to punish or weaken political opponents, to push ideological or even trendy agendas, etc.  They often plan undue onuses on the economy, especially costs to small businesses, driving them out of business, and to consumers.

They, too, frankly are intrusions on our personal liberties.  Bureaucrats, who think they are smarter than we are, tell us how we must live our lives.  Go ahead, try to buy the fertilizers, television sets, toilets, light bulbs, health insurance, shower heads, and more that you might want.  (Those new energy-efficient light bulbs don't do much for my vision; I find it very hard to read by them and can't do it for very long.)  The President's wife wants to tell us what we can give our kids for school lunches, what schools must serve, although kids throw out much of that healthy food.  The mayor(s) of NYC want to tell us what size sodas we can purchase.  Those things are none of their business, none of it!  How dare they try to intrude on my choices, my individual freedom!

One last note, when was the last time you voted for a bureaucrat?