Katherine Revello

Opinion Editor

After five years of blame shifting, fear mongering and passing policies that have done nothing but exacerbate existing legislative shortcomings, the state of the union and the performance of the current administration is nothing short of dismal.

In the modern era, no economic recovery has been slower. Debt and deficits have never been larger. Power has never been more concentrated in the hands of federal bureaucrats both elected and unelected.

Responsibility for this appalling state of affairs lies solely on the shoulders of those government officials who have flagrantly abused the sacred trust of their office, traded votes for constituency favors and OKed profligate spending, whether through active voting or non-participatory acquiescence.

These abuses are numerous and egregious, but fixable. Foundational principles, such as those that underlie the American system, are greater than any ideological debate. America is a nation of ideas, and its legislation should be about adherence to meritorious concepts and nothing else. Equivocation, over party lines and for personal gain, must stop. It puts a stranglehold on the passage of meaningful reform and subjects the nation to programs that serve no purpose other than appeasing gambits.

Further, the executive is not a Machiavellian figure who must contemplate whether to win over the people’s votes by adoration or browbeating, nor is any other public official. American citizens should neither fear nor love any vestige of their government. It should be too innocuous for any value judgment to be made regarding any of its functions on any level.

Government, particularly at the federal level, should be like the steel girders that support skyscrapers — essential to the integrity of its function, but of no mind to any but the builders.

Effecting this paring down of government functions is simple. The federal leviathan must be suffocated. Funding to all but the most essential of agencies and departments can be made unnecessary by shuttering them. If legislative power is returned to the prerogative of individual states, who best know the needs of their residents, their existence becomes redundant, instantly and holistically solving the taxing and spending problems crippling the nation.

Currently, business is mired down by an unnavigable labyrinth of regulation. Almost all but the most cursory of oversight functions are unnecessary. The burden should rest with the states; it should not be placed on business owners who must struggle to bring their businesses into compliance. The cost of interpreting and adhering to regulation only drives up the cost of doing business. This has a ripple effect on hiring ability and the pricing of products. And these get passed on to the consumer.

This is a clear example of the problems endemic to modern legislative stratagems. In the name of some nebulously defined altruistic protectionism, government actually impedes private interactions conducted by citizens and, in doing so, tramples on their rights.

Really, this should be impossible because the federal government ought to be so weak that even its harshest actions are not a threat to private citizens. This is because federal bureaucracy, in its proper scope, manages the equal footing of states in the national spotlight. Adjudicating the legality of actions taken by private factions falls within the purview of the states.

This vision seems radical now. But this only proves how far America has drifted from its roots. However, they remain intact and healthy. Only the burgeoning stems carry rot. Now, while the haleness of the stock is uncompromised, is the time for action. Presently, all that is necessitated to restore collective harmony is a careful pruning. But, if left unchecked, this infection will corrupt the entire plant and bring it to such a state of sickness that nothing will be salvageable.