OPINION:
There was a time when visitors to New York by car, plane or ship would be welcomed by the sight of the Empire State Building, rising more than 1,400 feet above midtown Manhattan. It was unmistakable in its size, prominence and design. It was a singular achievement, grand and unique. Even from miles away, the sight of its spire heralded your arrival in a place that was truly special. It was a symbol of America itself.
Today, however, as the towers along Billionaires’ Row and Hudson Yards reach higher and new clusters of buildings rise above the bedrock, the Empire State Building is increasingly lost in a sea of less inspired architecture, overtaken if not by height by the crowding of steel and glass around it.
The American presidency was once like the Empire State Building. Among the three equal branches, one reached higher in the minds of Americans as a symbol of our republic. The individual who had the honor to serve would be a guardian of our Constitution and embody the strength and values of the nation.
Not anymore. We’ve reached that moment our founders feared the most. It’s been decades in coming: the moment when the elected president is less relevant than the unelected apparatus of the central government, crowded out by the seemingly untamable machinery of the state.
After being at the beach for two weeks and having virtually no public schedule for nearly two months, President Biden returned to his beautiful prison at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. the other night, telling reporters that he is no longer allowed to go out in crowds. He’s been told by his handlers it’s too dangerous. To call that dubious would be an understatement, but then, this is the man who has repeatedly indicated that he’ll “get in trouble” with some faceless handler if he takes questions or goes off script.
When it comes to Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, you can’t help but wonder who is really calling the shots. Over the last few weeks, more Americans have rightly wondered who is really running the country. It doesn’t appear to be Mr. Biden, and it is certainly not Ms. Harris.
The intentional shelving of Mr. Biden isn’t just a brazen political maneuver. It is a powerful statement about the unbridled, extra-constitutional power of the executive branch.
Some call it progress, but when progress diminishes something truly great and aims to change its nature, it’s not progress at all.
We do not really need an active president. Mr. Biden can sit on a beach or make no public appearances for the rest of his term. He can nap in the White House residence in the afternoons and turn in for the night at 8 p.m. while Ms. Harris campaigns without any real responsibility. The political apparatchiks and layers of bureaucracy will run things.
Like the Empire State Building, the presidency is still among the greatest of structures. Still, its impact has been diminished by public employee unions, career bureaucrats and individuals with more money, power and influence.
There’s a reason why the idea of former President Donald Trump enlisting the assistance of Elon Musk in breaking the government censorship complex and bringing innovation and efficiencies to Washington is so intriguing. There’s a reason why “draining the swamp” and closing government departments are frequent campaign promises on the right.
Our founders were wary of a government that would devolve into authoritarianism. Abraham Lincoln encapsulated their vision as a government “of the people, by the people and for the people” in the Gettysburg Address.
There has never been a vision of America that included hundreds of executive branch departments, agencies, offices and commissions — so many, in fact, that it is virtually impossible to ascertain the exact number.
The natural results of this massive expansion, under mostly Democratic presidents going back to Woodrow Wilson, is a lack of accountability and transparency, massive increases in the need for federal taxation and the diminishing of the power of elected officials.
With all that comes abuse of power, the extortion of states to conform to the Beltway’s whims and the evisceration of basic constitutional freedoms.
We also know that Russian, Chinese and other enemy operatives have been infiltrating our sprawling, shadowy executive branch apparatus since the 1930s. It’s safe to say they’re still there, influencing policy and transmitting information to their masters overseas. Today’s operatives likely make Alger Hiss look like an amateur.
Perhaps Mr. Biden’s failed presidency has succeeded in making this clearer than ever. For all the pomp and circumstance that remain, the unelected have more authority and have become more essential than the elected. Time is short to even attempt to wrest control back.
A lost and irrelevant chief executive isn’t just a characteristic of this administration. It’s become a dangerous norm that must be broken.
• Tom Basile is the host of “America Right Now” on Newsmax TV and a Washington Times columnist.
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