MEDIUM RARE by Jim Rarey

May 14, 2000

BUREAUCRATS WREAKING DEATH AND DESTRUCTION

Unelected (and apparently unaccountable) bureaucrats across the country are making decisions and instituting policies resulting in avoidable deaths and destruction of property.

In a recent article, this writer detailed the tragic killing of three senior citizens in Lincoln Park, Michigan by a paranoid schizophreniac residing in a formerly all senior citizen housing building. The department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in 1994 mandated a policy that persons of any age suffering from disabilities (including mental disorders) be admitted to HUD subsidized housing. Bureaucrats are now scrambling to "re-evaluate" that policy while another death in similar circumstances has been reported.

This writer talked to a Wayne County (Michigan) official who works with senior citizens. He said the danger of the situation has been understated. He related how drug addicts (who qualify as "disabled" under HUD rules) have been beating up, robbing and otherwise terrorizing seniors in "senior" housing complexes in the county.

Also in the news in Michigan was the acquittal of Daimler-Chrysler in a wrongful death lawsuit involving a young girl who was killed by an airbag in a low impact collision at an intersection. The girl’s parents were alleging faulty design and installation of the airbag. The car manufacturer’s successful defense was based on the fact that the airbag was mandated by the National Highway Transportation Safety Board (NHTSB) and met all of the government’s specifications.

The NHTSB admits that airbags have caused at least 158 deaths including 92 children. However they also claim that airbags have saved 5,303 lives. That claim is highly suspect in view of the NTHSB’s own warning that airbags are not reliably effective unless used in conjunction with seat belts.

The third example resulting in widespread destruction of private property, but no deaths yet, is the two fires started by the National Park Service in New Mexico. Two fires (in separate parts of the state) intended to be "controlled burns" to rid the forests the fire hazard of underbrush were started. This in spite of direct warnings from the National Weather Service that conditions (high winds, low humidity and tinder-dry vegetation) made it likely the fires could not be contained.

At this writing, over 250 private homes have been destroyed in Los Alamos and flames have reached the government’s nuclear laboratory site destroying some of the outbuildings. Residents will not be allowed back to check out their homes for at least another week.

It is difficult to understand how the decision to do the burns at this time was made given the warning from the National Weather Service. It could only have come from the attitude or belief that that no individual responsibility would be assigned for such an irresponsible and disastrous decision. Although that person was suspended (with pay) "pending review," do you think he will lose his job? Not likely!

The bottom line is accountability. Who should be held accountable? The answer is congress.

Article I, Section 8 of the U. S. Constitution states (as a power of congress), "To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States or in any Department or Officer thereof."

In other words, there is no constitutional authority for the congress to delegate to cabinet members, or even the president, in the executive branch the power to make any rules or regulations that have the force of law.

Will congress ever reclaim that power it has unconstitutionally given away? Don’t hold your breath.

Permission is granted to reproduce this article in its entirety.

The author is a free lance writer based in Romulus, Michigan. He is a former newspaper editor and investigative reporter, a retired customs administrator and accountant, and a student of history and the U.S. Constitution.

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