Czargate Obama

In the old Sci-fi movie (and series) Stargate, devices of ancient power were able to create “wormholes” through space, that allowed folks nearly instantaneous travel between planets and other galaxies to meet extraterrestrials.
Today, we use devices of newly acquired power to burrow wormholes through the Constitution via a means of extra-Constitutional offices known as “czars”. Apart from the anti-democratic connotations of the term, consider that the office of the “czars” as they are presently known, are de facto cabinet level positions which do not need so much as a simple approval of a majority vote of the Senate.

The President’s cabinet currently consists of:

Secretary of State
Secretary of the Treasury
Secretary of Defense
Attorney General
Secretary of the Interior
Secretary of Agriculture
Secretary of Commerce
Secretary of Labor
Secretary of Health and Human Services
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Secretary of Transportation
Secretary of Energy
Secretary of Education
Secretary of Veterans' Affairs
Secretary of Homeland Security

This does not include other offices considered cabinet level, such as the

White House Chief of Staff
Director of the Office of Management and Budget
United States Trade Representative
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency
Ambassador to the United Nations
Chair of the Council of Economic Advisors



So, with all these advisors on all things foreign and domestic, why would the president need these:

Afghanistan Czar: Richard Holbrooke
Guantanamo Closure Czar: Daniel Fried
Weapons Czar: Ashton Carter
WMD Policy Czar: Gary Samore
Don’t we already have a Secretary of Defense?

AIDS Czar: Jeffrey Crowley
Health Czar: Nancy-Ann DeParle
Don’t we already have a Secretary of Health and Human Services AND a Surgeon General?

Auto Recovery Czar: Ed Montgomery
Car Czar: Ron Bloom (Ron carries Ed’s briefcase for him?)
Stimulus Accountability Czar: Earl Devaney
Don’t we have a Secretary of Transportation? A Secretary of Commerce?

Economic Czar: Paul Volcker
TARP Czar: Herb Allison
Secretary of the Treasury? Director OMB?

Drug Czar: Gil Kerlikowske
Terrorism Czar: John Brennan
Intelligence Czar: Dennis Blair
Law enforcement issues: FBI- Treasury

Border Czar: Alan Bersin
Secretary of Homeland Security?

California Water Czar: David J. Hayes (He’s doing a bang up job! /sarcasm)
Central Region Czar: Dennis Ross
Great Lakes Czar: Cameron Davis
Urban Affairs Czar: Adolfo Carrion Jr.
Secretary of the Interior?

Energy and Environment Czar: Carol Browner
Secretary of Energy? Administrator EPA?

Mideast Peace Czar: George Mitchell
Sudan Czar: J. Scott Gration
Secretary of State?

Green Jobs Czar: Van Jones
Pay Czar: Kenneth Feinberg
Secretary of Labor?

And some of these last ones should probably be eliminated by a judicious use of the Tenth Amendment”

Domestic Violence Czar: Lynn Rosenthal
Faith-Based Czar: Joshua DuBois
Are domestic violence and faith based organizations really Federal issues?

International Climate Czar: Todd Stern
Information Czar: Vivek Kundra
Regulatory Czar: Cass Sunstein
Science Czar: John Holdren
Technology Czar: Aneesh Chopra

The “information Czar” better get to work, because I don’t know what in the hell most of these guys do!

The appointment of a multitude of “czars” seems to be an attempt by the executive branch to assert greater power to itself without a commensurate amount of responsibility or the balance of powers favored by the Founding Fathers.

Even if it were not for their extra-Constitutional nature, in hard economic times like these, the redundancy of all these highly paid, highly unaccountable offices should be considered wasteful. They should be closed and their current occupants should be encouraged to find real jobs. We do not need more and more bloated government soaking up resources and making ever more burdensome regulations to further hamstring our economy. Enough is more than enough!

Cross posted at Say Anything