America is trapped in a living nightmare dominated by the Imperial Dragon of Washington, D.C. But why not have a dream of mythic proportions? Let’s dream about slaying the dragon. 

The administrative state, sometimes called the Deep State, undermines the country. D.C. is the hub of concentrated power used to control the country down to the most basic level.  If citizens allow D.C. to determine the size of their commodes, they will allow most any kind of centralized control. In effect, D.C. is an Imperial City ruling by edict.  This is supported by the fact that the richest five counties in the country are located around DC. These areas are where the imperial elite live -- highly paid bureaucrats in lifetime jobs, lobbyists, think-tankers and the good friends of lobbyists in Congress along with mainstream media enablers. Congress is broken and has no intention of revoking the Imperial City now or in the foreseeable future. What needs to be done?

The capital of the country is in its present location primarily because that was the center of the country when the capital was authorized in 1790. In 2019, the center of the country is on the Kansas-Nebraska border. D.C. needs to be moved to the present center of the country. This would accomplish several beneficial results. The elites from D.C. would be forced to rub elbows with ordinary citizens in an ordinary environment.  Constituents could more easily interact with those they have elected to represent them. The grandness of D.C. could be replaced by offices more akin to a country devoid of royalty. The current D.C. Federal complex could be sold to Disney as a tourist attraction. Many currently employed in D.C. would not choose to live in Flyover Country, so we could have a much-needed turnover in the inflexible bureaucracy; revoking the Civil Service rules of dismissal would help in this regard.  A lifetime appointment to the bureaucracy is counterproductive to the best interests of the country.

Now consider the number of federal agencies (around 439).  Why so many?  What citizen can follow the ins and outs of hundreds of institutions? Only the lobbyists can do this to their advantage. An efficient government is an oxymoron. The more government, the more chaos. A smaller government will still be inefficient, but the total amount of inefficiency will fall.

In addition, the states have myriad government agencies as well, many that simply mimic or mirror federal mandates. For example, there are over 19,000 incorporated places (cities and towns), over 3100 counties, 50 states, several territories, and a plethora of other entities involved in government. So if you eliminated many federal agencies you would downsize thousands of government units at the state and local level that are tied to the Federal government through regulation and funding. The courts and the private sector would fill the void.

We know that unnecessary regulation and spending is an enormous drag on the economy.  When you eliminate unneeded regulations, it is similar to removing a tax. Such reduced regulation naturally leads to enhanced economic growth. Economic research suggests that resulting growth could range up to two percent. The only way to approximate the right mix of regulations for the country on a continuing basis is to eliminate the vast number of unauthorized agencies.

Start with one agency.  Candidate number one is the Department of Education.  The federal government has no authority to engage in education policy at the state level. Education is clearly a state authority under the Constitution.  So the President could make that argument and withhold funding from the department.  This action would find its way to the Supreme Court quickly and the Court could strike the agency down on constitutional grounds. Once this process is successfully employed, it could be repeated in numerous other cases.  The President could issue an Executive Order defunding agencies that are not constitutionally authorized.

The new capital in the Midwest and the much scaled-down agencies at all levels would effectively slay the dragon. What a wonderful dream!

Christopher Garbacz was a professor of economics for 25 years. He canbe reached at cgarbox@gmail.com.