Reining in the renegade bureaucrats in Washington

Insubordination is not something to be tolerated, whether in military or in civilian life. Subordinates who refuse to carry out legal and legitimate directives – or who make decisions or take action without authority - must be disciplined or terminated. If not, chaos eventually will ensue and the enterprise founder.

There are situations, unfortunately, in which the lines of authority become blurred or even reversed, and superiors and subordinates somehow forget who reports to whom.

A school teacher may act as if parents have less of a say in the education of their own children. A caregiver may treat the elderly like wards instead of employers. The staff of a trade association may presume to dictate to the membership who created and fund the group.

The United States was originally organized much like a trade association - established by its membership, the several states, to provide a limited set of specific services. Over time, and not by accident, the federal government has inverted its relationship to the states that created and fund it. It has been insubordinate for so long that few Americans realize (nor are they taught in the public schools) that it has seized most of its present powers.

Now the states are fighting back, on a number of fronts.

West Virginians can be proud our state is in the midst of it, fighting to tame the federal leviathan and reassert our sovereignty on several fronts.

Just last week, state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced that he and other state AGs had filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court opposing the Environmental Protection Agency’s new rule on cross-state air pollution.

“This move by the EPA is just one more effort to slam the door on energy-producing states,” Morrisey said. “It is a blatant attempt to promote a reckless agenda...”

So it is, and it’s time for the states and “we the people” to make Washington subservient to us again.