Advice for DOGE: Look at the Enumerated Powers

We’re within three weeks of the (hopefully) peaceful transfer of power. With the vacuum of leadership in the current administration, the world is already turning to President-Elect Donald Trump as the de facto leader, and change is underway. I expect there’s a lot more change to come.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is not a new government agency or entity; it is to be a commission to make recommendations, which, as I understand it, would then have to be followed up by the legislative or executive branches, depending on what a particular recommendation pertains to. It is to be co-led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Both are really smart guys. And Vivek, at least what I’ve heard from him, understands the Constitution pretty well. Elon has shown his ability to do nearly impossible things, one of which was to turn Twitter into X, with most of the employees gone, and make it now a much freer-speech platform. Maybe they can do the job.

A tweet Elon Musk put out in November, embracing the Doge meme
image that predates the creation of DOGE by more than a decade.

Here's what Wikipedia says about DOGE:

Musk has suggested that the commission could help to cut the U.S. federal budget by up to US$2 trillion through measures such as reducing waste, abolishing redundant agencies, and downsizing the federal workforce. Ramaswamy also stated that DOGE may eliminate entire federal agencies and reduce the number of federal employees by as much as 75%. DOGE may attempt to do this through re-enacting Schedule F. Musk has also proposed consolidating the number of federal agencies from more than 400 to fewer than 100.

It looks like a complicated and difficult undertaking—at which I hope they succeed.

While I have little expectation that advice from me will get to them, I offer it anyway. I’d like to streamline their process by suggesting that they simply go by the Constitution. If the power wasn’t granted to the federal government in the Constitution, then do away with that function.

We’ve looked at the limits of the Constitution before (specifically here, here, and here): the purposes in the Preamble, the enumerated powers, and then the just-to-make-sure-these-aren’t-ignored limits spelled out in the Bill of Rights. But we haven’t done it in the context of an actual, possibly imminent, opportunity to make it happen. So let’s review.

The Constitution’s Preamble, in bulleted form, gives us the mission statement for the federal government:

We the People of the United States, in order to:

·         form a more perfect Union,

·         establish Justice,

·         insure domestic Tranquility,

·         provide for the common defence,

·         promote the general Welfare,

·         and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity,

do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

You could sum up this mission as to protect the people as a whole: to secure their life, liberty, and property. So anything else in the Constitution will be to make those things happen. Most notably, there are the enumerated powers, from Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, spelling out for Congress what it can legislate, what the Executive can then administer and carry out, and what the Judiciary can then adjudicate on:

Article I, Section 8, is where you find most of the enumerated powers.

1.     The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

2.     To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

3.     To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

4.     To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

5.     To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

6.     To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

7.     To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

8.     To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

9.     To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

10.  To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

11.  To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

12.  To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

13.  To provide and maintain a Navy;

14.  To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

15.  To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

16.  To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

17.  To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;—And

18.  To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

Article I, Sections 9, lists some limitations on the federal government, and Section 10 lists some limitations on the states.

Then there are a few more enumerated powers added as amendments to the Constitution:

19.  Thirteenth Amendment: To outlaw slavery and involuntary servitude (except as a punishment for crime), and to enforce this prohibition.

20.  Sixteenth Amendment: To lay and collect taxes on income—changing this from the original language in Article I, Section 8, which didn’t allow this type of direct tax.

21.  Fifteenth, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-sixth Amendments: To enforce equal voting rights laws across all the states.

It undoubtedly doesn’t take 400 agencies (and probably not even 100 DOGE set as their goal) to do these 21 things. That means the federal government is doing a whole lot that it hasn’t been given power by the people to do—including things that the people can’t rightly give to government (for example, redistribution of wealth: if an individual does it, it's theft; and so it is when the government does it).

So, for the benefit of DOGE, here’s a list of powers the federal government has NOT been given:

ü  Power to govern education.

ü  Power to offer charitable services (welfare).

ü  Power to force purchase of a service or product (such as health insurance).

ü  Power to forbid purchase of a legal service or product (such as gas-powered vehicles).

ü  Power to require payment into a retirement supplement (Social Security).

ü  Power to interfere with commerce that doesn’t cross state lines.

ü  Power to redefine marriage in a way that is contrary to long-standing law and tradition, and to enforce acceptance of the new definition, even when it violates personal religious beliefs.

ü  Power to subsidize any industry (such as alternative “green” energy).

ü  Power to target industries in accordance with a social agenda (gun manufacturing, automobile manufacturing, nuclear energy, oil and gas, fast food, or sugary drinks).

ü  Power to use taxpayer funds to support abortion, nor power to claim abortion as a federal right.

ü  Power to subsidize or control (or forgive) student loans.

ü  Power to take over any industry (as when the Obama administration temporarily took over GM and banks).

ü  Power to favor or disfavor individuals or groups for hiring, educational opportunities, or other purposes based on their race, religion, or ESG or other invented social score or category.

ü  Power to coerce a person to subject themselves to a particular medical intervention.

ü  Power to censor legal speech, or encourage or allow censorship by businesses as censors-by-proxy for the government.

 ü  Power to partner with businesses to accomplish by proxy what the federal government is not lawfully allowed to do.

ü  Power to commit US military lives and US treasure to fight wars not declared by the US Congress.

 ü  Power to use regulatory agencies to legislate, execute, and adjudicate laws within a single branch of government.

I’m sure that list is not exhaustive. But it’s enough to get DOGE started. Anything the government is doing that it has not been specifically granted the power to do—has to go.

The question will be how to cut: swiftly and completely, or more gradually but on a definite timetable with the end in sight (so a future administration can’t revive it). Personally, right now, I’m in favor of swiftly and completely. It’s working for Argentina right now. And we have reason to believe, not only will cutting mean less government spending, but it will free up all kinds of resources to be used for creating value that's currently being blocked from being created.

Exceptions to swiftly and completely might be where long-standing promises have gone into financial planning, wherein the government has deprived people of alternatives. Taking money out of paychecks for Social Security would be an example; you can’t take it out all those years, depriving earners of the use and investment power of their money, and then take away the promised, albeit inadequate, benefit. (COLA for Social Security benefits this year is 0.2%, in a high-inflation environment, which is clearly inadequate.) Then the question will be how to get us from the current mess we’re in to a constitution-abiding state.

DOGE could keep in mind this Spherical Model axiom:

Whenever government attempts something beyond the proper role of government (protection of life, liberty, and property), it causes unintended consequences—usually exactly opposite to the stated goals of the interference.

What DOGE has been tasked with will not be easy; but it is simple: limit the federal government to its proper role by abiding by the Constitution. I pray for them to take this rare opportunity and make the radical changes necessary to rescue our constitutional republic.

Our Miraculous Constitution

This Saturday is the anniversary of our Constitution’s birthday, signed September 17, 1787. That’s 235 years ago. To celebrate, we’re going to look at whether our Constitution follows the principles that lead to freedom, prosperity, and civilization, which we outlined here in Monday’s post.

Howard Chandler Christy's "Scene at the Signing of the
Constitution of the United States"
image found on Wikipedia

The Constitution and the Political Sphere

·        The purpose of government is to protect and preserve the God-given rights to life, liberty, and property of each person individually and as a people within that government entity.

We might best see the direct wording from our Declaration of Independence, where the founders declared:

We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness—That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed.

So that is the philosophical underpinning of our nationhood. Note that life, liberty, and property are rather poetically worded as “and the pursuit of happiness.” What we do with our life and liberty includes but is not limited to how we go about getting ourselves out of our poverty, how we acquire food, clothing, and shelter so that we can enjoy our lives.

Page 1 of the Constitution of the United States
image found on Wikipedia

Government isn’t about providing happiness; it is about protecting property, which is the product of our earning and acquiring more than the essentials for a day of life. Other than that protective role, government should get out of the way.

In the actual Constitution, in the Preamble, those protective purposes are laid out with just a bit more detail:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

 The protective role includes laws and justice, officials such as police and judges who carry out the laws, a military to protect national borders, and whatever details are required to benefit all the people—things like monetary systems, weights and measures, and a few things to be enumerated. Which brings us to the next principle.

·        The government can do only those duties delegated to it by the people in written and binding law.

The Constitution includes enumerated powers—that is, the limited, listed powers granted in law. Beyond this list, all rights and privileges remain with the states and with the people—which got spelled out in the 9^th and 10^th Amendments, just in case later generations forgot what was understood at the time. Here are the enumerated powers, which Congress can legislate, the Executive can administer and carry out, and the Judiciary can adjudicate on:

1.     The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

2.     To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

3.     To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

4.     To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

5.     To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

6.     To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

7.     To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

8.     To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

9.     To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

10.  To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

11.  To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

12.  To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

13.  To provide and maintain a Navy;

14.  To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

15.  To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

16.  To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

17.  To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;—And

18.  To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

These are all in Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, listing the powers of Congress. The next section, Section 9, lists limitations that Congress cannot do, just in case tradition or someone getting a “bright idea” down the line thought such things could be construed as part of one of those enumerated powers.

Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution of the United States

Then there are a few more added as amendments to the Constitution:

19.  Exercise governing authority over the District (Washington, DC, an area not exceeding 10 square miles) as the seat of the government of the United States.

20.  Exercise governing authority over places purchased (by consent of the legislature of the state in which located) for erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dockyards, and other needful buildings.

21.  Make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the US or in any department or officer thereof.

22.  Outlaw slavery and involuntary servitude (except as a punishment for crime), and enforcement of this prohibition.

23.  Sixteenth Amendment: Lay and collect taxes on income.

24.  Fifteenth, Twenty-fourth, and Twenty-sixth Amendments: Enforce equal voting rights laws across all the states.

·        The government can do only those duties delegated to it by the people in written and binding law.

Because government derives its “just Powers from the Consent of the Governed,” it is only reasonable that government cannot do something the people do not have the power to delegate to government. This would include that government cannot confiscate property owned by one person and bestow ownership of that property on another person. That is called theft when one person does it to another, so it is theft—and unconstitutional—if government does it. Any redistribution of wealth comes under this category. Even welfare for benevolent, “charitable” purposes is unconstitutional. Being generous with someone else’s money is theft, not charity. What we need is for government to get out of the way of churches and charitable organizations who freely choose to give to those in need.

The rest of these should go quicker, since we’ve covered so much already.

 

·        Governing should be done at the lowest level possible.

The Constitution—written and signed eleven years after the country’s birth in 1776—was designed to “form a more perfect Union.” It was a union prior to that, but a rather weak and disorderly one. The Constitution strengthens the union, while it spells out the laws that limit this central power, so that only those duties necessarily performed by the states altogether are given to that dangerous central government.

 

·        The government cannot cede power to any entity larger than the nation; international issues must be handled by diplomacy, preferably, or military defense when necessary.

The states forming the Union, and the people making up those states, do not grant the federal government the right to cede power to any other authority. The very idea of a One World government is unconstitutional—and treasonous in the very thought. We may have alliances with other nations—when that is in the interest of protecting our borders and our people and property. But any such alliances should be limited to those specified ends and must carefully protect our sovereignty as a guard against tyranny.

 

The Constitution and the Economic Sphere

·        The person who earned, accumulated, and owns wealth is the person who gets to decide how it is spent.

We covered this above, pointing out that welfare and charity cannot be justly done by government. Government’s don’t have feelings of charity, but only raw power. Coercing a person to give their wealth to another isn’t charity.

Penn Jillette (the magician, and a libertarian thinker) put it bluntly this way:

It’s amazing to me how many people think that voting to have the government give poor people money is compassion. Helping poor and suffering people yourself is compassion. Voting for our government to use guns to give money to help poor and suffering people is immoral self-righteous bullying laziness. People need to be fed, medicated, educated, clothed, and sheltered. If we’re compassionate, we’ll help them, but you get no moral credit for forcing other people to do what you think is right. There is great joy in helping people, but no joy in doing it at gunpoint.

·        Taxes are acceptable only when limited to funding the duties of government enumerated in written principle-abiding law. 

Ah, enumerated in law—if only our government would abide by the Constitution!

·        Government’s economic responsibility is limited to protecting property. (This can include the coining of money to be used as a form of exchange.)

Again, that’s what the enumerated powers limit government to.

 

·        Government must lawfully prevent monopoly or other economic tyranny, but otherwise must allow people the open exchange of legal goods and services.

Sometimes conservatives—and libertarians in particular—think private businesses can do just about anything they want. But a monopoly is not part of the free market; it prevents a free market. Therefore laws that prevent monopolies are appropriate.

 

·        Using the people’s money to achieve political aims goes against the proper role of government. 

   The proper role of government is to protect life, liberty, and property. The ways to do that are the enumerated powers. Here’s a partial list of things clearly not granted to the federal government:

ü  Power to govern education.

ü  Power to offer charitable services (welfare).

ü  Power to force purchase of a service or product (such as health insurance).

ü  Power to require payment into a retirement supplement (Social Security).

ü  Power to interfere with commerce that doesn’t cross state lines.

ü  Power to redefine marriage in a way that is contrary to long-standing law and tradition, and to enforce acceptance of the new definition, even when it violates personal religious beliefs.

ü  Power to subsidize any industry (such as alternative “green” energy).

ü  Power to target industries in accordance with a social agenda (gun manufacturing, automobile manufacturing, nuclear energy, oil and gas, fast food or sugary drinks).

ü  Power to use taxpayer funds to support abortion.

ü  Power to subsidize or control (or forgive) student loans.

ü  Power to take over any industry (as when the Obama administration temporarily took over GM and banks).

ü  Power to favor or disfavor individuals or groups for hiring, educational opportunities, or other purposes based on their race or religion, or some invented ESG score.

 

The Ten Commandments,
at theTexas Capitol

The Constitution and the Social Sphere

·        Civilization requires a people who honor God, life, family, truth, and property ownership. (These are a summary of the Ten Commandments.)

The Constitution and the Ten Commandments are connected—both revealed by God, both as the law for the people. As an earlier prophet of my Church has said,

The Constitution of the United States of America is just as much from my Heavenly Father as the Ten Commandments.—George Albert Smith, General Conference, April 1948, p. 182.

There are only two options for the source of our rights: God or government. If it’s God, then those rights cannot be justly taken away by mere mortals, including those who make up government. If it’s government, then those rights are simply the whims of the governing power, and a capricious government can take them away as easily as allow them.

People who want to maintain their God-given rights must recognize God is the grantor of those rights. They must believe in God—a benevolent God. There’s plenty to say about this—and I’ve done that here—but for today let’s just reiterate John Adams, who said:

Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.

 

·        While not all religious societies are civilized, all civilized societies are made up of a critical mass of religious people.

See above. And let’s add to that, this is an obvious reason the federal government was prevented from interfering in the free exercise of religion, the first right mentioned in the Bill of Rights, in the First Amendment.

 

·        The family is the basic unit of civilized society. Whatever threatens the family threatens civilization. Therefore, preserving and protecting the family is paramount in laws and social expectations in a civilized society.

I’ve written about this a lot, starting here. These are the first couple of paragraphs:

Civilized societies value family as the most important and basic unit of governance. Alternatively, a hallmark of totalitarian regimes, which are savage, is the replacement of the family with the state. Totalitarianism resents loyalty to any societal unit other than itself. And it is this absolute weakness that will always prevent a totalitarian state from offering true Civilization as you’d find it in a free strong-family society.

This is particularly important to know for people living in a sub-civilized society. As long as families are allowed to live among themselves (children are under the care of their own parents), it is possible to have a civilized society that is just one family in size. Then, if that family can find additional similarly civilized families to associate with, their society grows. If it could grow to the size of a village or township, all the better. The goal of the founding fathers was to have that civilization spread through the United States (and if that experiment worked, have other sovereign states adopt the plan). But a family doesn’t have to wait until the world changes; the family can live the laws of civilization and enjoy many of the benefits, at least within the walls of the home.

Families aren’t mentioned in the Constitution. The concept was so obvious—that family is the basic unit of civilization—that I believe it was considered self-evident. The Bill of Rights was to spell out some rights whose infringements the founders had experienced before. Some worried about including any, because later generations might consider them to be limiting the people to those rights. The Ninth Amendment specifically dispels that possibility:

The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

Family rights—the right of parents to see to the care and upbringing of their children—are among those not mentioned but retained by the people.

There's Mr. Spherical Model with our boys,
pursuing some happiness, some years ago, while we were
involved in the care and upbringing of our children.

What is government’s role? To protect life, liberty, and property. And it is required to allow states, families, and individuals to go about pursuing their happiness.

The Constitution works every time it is tried. If only we would fully try it!