Schoolchildren learn that there are three branches of government: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. In actual practice, however, there are four branches of government.
The fourth is what for decades now has been called a “headless fourth branch of government,” the bureaucracy.
In the 1937 Report of the President’s Committee on Administrative Management, the authors wrote: “Without plan or intent, there has grown up a headless ‘fourth branch’ of the Government, responsible to no one, and impossible of coordination with the general policies and work of the Government as determined by the people through their duly elected representatives.” The problem of waste and lack of accountability in this fourth branch, the report noted, had been “clearly recognized for a generation” and had been “growing steadily worse decade by decade.”
What they described is the “permanent government” of lifelong bureaucrats who, without a vote of any legislature, produce thousands of new regulations every year— regulations that if not followed carefully can result in fines and imprisonment for ordinary people.
These regulations touch on every aspect of life, from healthcare to private business to education and to so-called national defense.
Even worse, this bureaucracy functions with an enormous amount of autonomy, untroubled by taxpayer concerns. But who can be surprised by such autonomy? We live in a country where the federal government collects more than $3 trillion in revenue per year. Trillion-dollar budget deficits can be managed by monetizing debt through the central bank, or by selling even larger piles of government bonds. The Pentagon, for example, in 2016 couldn’t account for $6 trillion. In such an environment, a government agency never has to justify its existence.
Meanwhile, every two years we’re told that electing “the right people” will change our fortunes and finally bring accountability and a new direction to a federal government in the midst of a crisis of legitimacy. The army of federal agents, officers, and administrators knows better. And they’re fine with the status quo.
So long as this unchecked army of bureaucrats, technocrats, and deep-state operatives is allowed free rein, it will be impossible to make progress in limiting the state’s power over individuals.
To explore what must be done, and to understand the true extent of the damage done by the regime’s bureaucrats, this issue of The Misesian draws upon the work of Mises Institute President Tom DiLorenzo, Senior Fellow Tom Woods, and Dr. Robert Malone, who all spoke at our Mises Circle in Phoenix last month, whose theme was “Our Enemy, the Bureaucracy.” DiLorenzo looks at how the bureaucrats use their power to manipulate political institutions and grow the regime. After all, they’re political operatives seeking out new ways to increase their own power. Woods and Malone explore how the bureaucracy has seized control of the healthcare industry and has endangered our health in the process.
As with every issue, you’ll find a new book review from David Gordon, plus news from the Mises Institute. The Misesian contains just a fraction of what the Mises Institute publishes through our website, our two academic journals, and our imprint, which releases a growing number of new books every year. If you’re interested in learning more, please consider subscribing to our daily or weekly emails. Simply go to mises. org and click the Subscribe button in the upper right-hand corner. In the meantime, we hope you enjoy what you find in these pages.
