Sources of beurocratic power: societal complexity, political advantages, bureaucratic expansionism, incrementalism
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The Federal bureaucracy is given discretionary authority, which basicly gives it the power to make policies not spelled out in constitution. This power has allowed the bureaucracy to grow, and given them independence.
The power of the bureaucracy has changed in the last 200 years in that it has increased and become more powerful. Some of these changes have come about through amendments to the Constitution.
Special interest groups check the power of bureaucracy with their constant monitoring and resultant publicity of actions. Special interest groups can create a false sense of urgency or need on a topic.
The Federal Reserve has the power to establish monetary policy, like inflation, deflation, and interest rates. This power is not given to any entity by the Constitution except Congress, making the Fed's activities unconstitutional. Similar things can be said of almost any agency you can think of: the IRS, SEC, FTC...They all have the ability to make rules and at times the ability to enforce them. The problem is that the Constitution vests legislative power in Congress only and executive power in the President's office only. Currently, and for the past 100 years, we have unelected bureaucratic government officials usurping the power (or, Congress and the President have let their power be usurped, depending on your perspective) that is not given them by the Constitution. How will the people have any recourse in this matter, if the people cannot elect someone in the place of the existing bureaucracy?
Federal departments and agencies would be relatively small