Memories of the 28th Century

Recently, it has become clearer than usual that it is a good idea to avoid national news. I have followed national and international news carefully since I was quite young, but it didn't bother me that I was unable to vote last November, because there was no one I wanted to vote for. I wouldn't have bothered to vote for Biden if he had still been on the ballot, but I had no desire to vote for Harris, and someone would have had to pat me a lot to vote for Trump. Alas, the least qualified president ever was elected. He doesn't seem to understand the nature of the office that he was elected to. Like some of his predecessor, he thinks that he has absolute power. Even Nixon realized that there were limits to his power. Congress also has problems understanding the limits of power. The U.S. Constitution limits the powers of the federal government, and please take note of the word “federal”.
Federal refers to federation, which is another term for alliance. Like the European Union, the United States of American is an alliance of independent sovereign entities. The people and the states created the alliance to oversee certain governmental functions, especially interstate and international commerce and defense. The powers that were lent to the federal government are listed in Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution, and miscellaneous powers mentioned elsewhere. Unfortunately, the federal government has abandoned one of its powers; to coin money, and the post office has almost been eliminated. The president's job is to carry out and enforce the acts of Congress. The president doesn't make law, except in a few matters where Congress allows the president to alter existing law to fit the situation.
The nature of the federation was obvious to all who read the constitution, but it wasn't stated explicitly until the Tenth Amendment: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” That makes it clear the president can't validly claim additional powers.

Trump hasn't claimed any extra powers yet, And the organization that he is creating for Elon Musk is just an advisory committee, so it can't do anything, but we should watch carefully to make sure that it does not do anything. And we should also remember that Musk is an illegal alien who is not eligible for citizenship, because he violated his initial visa. I am surprised that the appropriate authorities have not enforced the law in his case.
Some of what Trump has pr-announced is valid and even good. Getting rid of departments that are not authorized by the constitution is good, and Education is not among the matters that congress can make laws about, and the same is true of Housing and Urban development. In those matters, the federal government has invaded the powers of the states. Health and Human Services is another matter where the feds are invading on the states, but there are some parts of that that are within the federal purview, since promotion of science is a federal matter.

If we are going to continue to have a constitutional government, then we have to make sure that the government does not exceed its powers. If we fail to chop away the powers that the federal government has stolen, then we might as well toss out the constitution entirely. The thing that led me to write this was an article about getting rid of the Electoral College for electing the president of the federation. I believe that eliminating the electoral college would destroy the federation, because most of the country would have little or no say in the government. Removing the power of the states in elections would make the country a unitary government. There are people who think that would be good, bu even now there are distinct differences in the states, and I think thews differences make the country as a whole better.

We will continue this in the future.