Fine Line Between "Administrative" and Congressional Law.

Congress passes our laws and most people think that whatever the government directs them to do is the because of   laws directly passed by Congress.  That’s not quite right. Congress creates an executive Agency and that department writes rules or codes which when issued become what are called CFR’s (code of federal regulations) or administrative laws.

For example, Congress created the Department of Agriculture.   The Department of Agriculture is part of the administrative branch of government; it is under control of the President.  So when Congress passed the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. It directed the USDA to establish nutrition standards for all foods and beverages sold to students in school during the school day.  They did that, no big deal.  I’m sure several food nutritionists got together and put together a school lunch menu and considered it a done thing. At that point, whatever they wrote became an administrative law. Then Obama’s wife came out with the ideal school lunch menu that included whole wheat and other items that you couldn’t even get a kid to eat at home.  One phone call, and guess what your kids get for lunch now? --and it’s the law.

Then there is the Treasury Department, more specifically, the IRS, another department controlled by the executive.  “Kill all Tea Party applications” isn’t written anywhere in the laws, but hey, the applications are not going anywhere soon. Did they violate any law, probably not, they get to write the laws they need, to function as directed by Congress.  Our representatives gave them the power to create administrative laws that many people believe border on being extremely arbitrary and harsh.

We are surrendering more of our freedom with each government agency created. A government agency can create a directive that will have the full force of law until it is challenged by a court of law. Recently the Mayor of NY City, had the Board of Health approve a regulation limiting soda sizes. That was an “Administrative Law.”  The court overturned it stating that the mayor’s ban on sugary sodas of more than 16 ounces was a violation of executive powers.

I’m not so upset about the delegation of authority to a Federal agency, but some of these departments have run amok.  Just getting your kids to eat the food served at home is a real challenge. Why screw it up with whole wheat? School lunch sales are down quite a bit for kids not on the subsidized lunch program. It’s McDucks if you have cash or the school cafeteria for the free lunch. When I was a kid, the school would send a proposed food menu home for the parent’s approval.  The current message I get; the American public is too stupid for their own good and some government created Agency like the Food and Drug Administration will save us from ourselves.

I use to love McDonalds French fries made with real animal fat, they were delicious.  Some pencil pusher in the FDA wrote a directive that ruined French fries forever. Even our fast food is now “Politically Correct.”

Here is a real test, make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich using whole wheat bread.   Woof it down. Do you think you’ll ever want another one of those? If you say yes, that’s probably a good indication that you need to cut down on the amount of weed you’re smoking. Gimmie my white bread and greasy (animal fat) French fries, freedom tastes better without government regulations. Our fast food is now terrorist friendly—no pork fat—Go figure!  I guess we want them to live longer also.