But there is a recent fascinating excerpt from the Planet Money newsletter (carried on the npr.org website), written by Greg Rogalski and titled: ‘Are There Too Many Political Appointees?’
In that article are some facts and figures that may not be known to the average citizen:
“Thousands of victorious campaign staffers, donors, glory seekers, and hangers-on will soon be swarming the capital in search of jobs in the new administration. And, in a few weeks, there will be a convenient guidebook published for them.
The book is officially called United States Government Policy and Supporting Positions, but it's better known as the Plum Book because of its purple cover — and also probably because it's filled with plum jobs, many of which are appointed by the winning presidential candidate. The book is published every four years after presidential elections…a long list of positions around the federal government, typically providing information on who last held them and what their salary was.”
“The last Plum Book was published in December 2016 and it listed around 4,000 positions appointed by the president. Some of the jobs…everyone has heard of like White House Chief of Staff, Secretary of Defense, and Chair of the Federal Reserve. But the book also lists thousands of jobs most people haven't heard of — like Deputy Scheduler at the Department of Energy (at least $37,000 a year), Commissioner…and Chair of the Railroad Retirement Board…about $181,500 a year.”
David E. Lewis, a political scientist at Vanderbilt University...studies presidents and the federal bureaucracy and is the author of The Politics of Presidential Appointments: Political Control and Bureaucratic Performance. ‘Most people who study this — including me — believe there are too many political appointees,’ Lewis says. Sure, he says, political appointees help the president get control of the federal bureaucracy and keep it accountable to voters. They help presidents get stuff done. But, he says, there are way too many. "We can get the same amount of accountability with dramatically fewer politically appointed positions."
The main problem with so many political appointees, Lewis points out, is the exodus of professionals after each president leaves office is followed by a prolonged period of vacancies. Two years into the Trump Administration, over a third remained vacant. It takes a while to nominate and confirm political appointees. Then they have to learn what they're doing. This lack of continuity, Lewis says, hurts government performance.
He believes we would all be better off if more of these jobs were filled by civil servants who do not have to leave every time there is a new president.
Other nations, Lewis says, have nowhere near the same percentage of political appointees working in their governments. ‘There are countries like Denmark where there's an election and maybe 12 administrative jobs change,’ he says. ‘In ours, it's multiple thousands’."
Rogalsky offers some hope, citing pending legislation and the fact the process may be undergoing a fresh look and some possible changes from the in-coming administration. “Last week, the Biden-Harris transition announced "agency review teams" who are heading their search for staffers… and leading the effort to help set up the new White House Council of Economic Advisors (CEA)…”
All well and good. But, another holdover issue also threatens the viability of the federal government, and that is the revolutionary takeover of about one-third of the federal judiciary by Trump loyalists who have been approved by the Mitch McConnell-led Senate to the tune of about 300 judgeships. Just think of it – one third of the federal judiciary is made up of Trump loyalists, prepared to act on principles that defy and undermine the functioning of the Biden-Harris administration, and to go even further to undo long-standing decisions like Roe v. Wade and Brown v. Board of Education, while also waiting to pounce whenever they smell ‘socialism’ ‘labor rights’ ‘women’s rights’ ‘regulation of business’ or ‘public education’.
In other words, many of those district court and appeal court decisions are going to belong to the Alt Right movement left in the wake of the Trump administration.
A recent book by Tom Hartman, the New York Times best-selling author of over 25 books, as part of his “Hidden History” series, presents the hidden history of the Supreme Court and The Betrayal of America.
In it, he addresses our current situation, and raises some issues that every concerned citizen should be considering. Among them is the long-held concept of judicial review that had started much earlier, but which became part of the decision in the 1803 case of Marbury vs. Madison. Writing for the Court, Chief Justice John Marshall declared:
“It is emphatically the duty of the Judicial Department to say what the law is.” In other words, he unilaterally declared that the Court’s powers, according to Hartman “included interpreting the meaning of the Constitution and applying that interpretation to federal legislation.” According to Hartman, that decision enraged Thomas Jefferson who essentially felt that those who control the law, control the nation. For him, Marshall had in a single stroke put the Court above the Congress and the president, making “a constitutional monarchy with the Supreme Court wearing the crown.”
Jefferson’s rebuttal had to do with the people speaking through their elected representatives in constitutional convention, and using Article III, Section 2 of the Constitution to regulate the Court.
Hartman goes on to declare the preposterousness of the idea that “five men (or women) on the US Supreme Court, trained and promoted through their lifetimes by the billionaire-funded Federalist Society, can magically read the minds of the long-dead framers of the Constitution and dictate to Americans that they are the framers’ only true spokesmen.”
Hartman then points to a study done in 2014 by Giles and Page that found that the political goals of Americans at the bottom 90% of income are essentially ignored by the Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidency. The goals of the top 10% however, predictably become law.
Hartman comes to this conclusion on our current situation in this context: “while the idealogues control the Court and dance to the tunes of those with great wealth and corporate power, the Court will likely continue to deny Americans the policies, no matter how popular, that could improve their lot in life and American democracy. “
So, let us talk Turkey. These examples of Trumpism left behind in the federal bureaus and in the federal court system are perhaps but the tip of the iceberg! There is still the issue of legislative control to consider as the Georgia run-off elections loom ever larger for the two senators from that state. Georgia’s voters may hold the key to the Biden-Harris administration’s ability to legislate forward-looking, democratic reform and re-structuring.
And that suggests the main concern with what has been left behind by this de-construction-of-democracy Trumpism.
We tend, I think, to minimize the deeper meanings of 74+ million votes cast for Donald Trump (and Mike Pence). What does it mean? It surely means that:
1) a sizeable number of citizens of this country do not support constitutional principles but are inclined to support unbridled power and control however it may manifest itself;
2) there are way-too-many voters who have no idea what is at stake when a leader proposes absolute power to do anything he/she wants or believes, and then proceeds to use established legal means to attain those aims;
3) there are many who are lacking basic knowledge of the purposes, aims, ideals and legitimate workings of government on behalf of the people; they have reached the mistaken conclusion that government is their enemy and that their responsibility is to block any attempt by government to interfere in their lives
4) but more troubling perhaps are those in this phalanx of voters who are simply following the biases and prejudices that they have learned or that have been thrust upon them by some entity, force or simple neglect; resulting in the inability to think critically, to reason clearly and to act wisely in relation to their part in making democracy, government, community, country, society work in a manner that benefits everyone not just a few
5) and then there are those who went ahead and voted for Trump and Trumpism even though they felt uneasy doing so – that uneasiness may have had reason to increase over the last few weeks as Trump played fast and loose with the election, charging that it was ‘rigged’ ‘crooked’ and incorrect as well as ‘corrupt.’
We are simply poorly prepared for the onslaught of Trumpism that is being left behind.
we do not have nearly enough understanding of how government works or what principles underlie and support that work, and no movement has yet emerged to address that deficit (unless you count Stacey Abrams movement to register new voters)
we do not have nearly enough understanding of what constitutional principles form the inviolable basis for our democracy nor do we clearly understand the means and tools available to protect and enhance those principles
we are missing the damage being done to our ideals and principles by the courts and by those wealthiest corporations defined as individuals who have been given the green light in Citizens United to bribe politicians and office-holders with political money defined as a form of free speech
we just do not understand how certain policies and practices can undermine our principles and structures if we fail to block them whenever and wherever they occur – like undermining our election system by slowing mail delivery
we still carry within us the false belief that “let someone else do it – I don’t care to get involved” is a viable choice for a citizen; citizen rights are well-defined, but citizen responsibilities are not
our public education system is failing to ameliorate any of these deficits
we do not understand the depth and breadth of the damage done by the Trump administration to either our democratic structures like supply lines, schools, law enforcement or immigration, or to our principles like an unbiased judicial system and equal opportunity for all.
Trump leaves office on January 20, 2021. Trumpers will be hanging around in every nook and cranny of our complicated federal system, including the federal courts for at least another 50-60 years in some cases. We must not ignore their presence or their mischief. De-construction of our representative system is still their goal.
Get prepared to meet their challenges and to stand firm against their non-constitutional values.
