We have all heard the terms "Drug Czar", "Car Czar" etc. it seems to have been in our political vocabulary for generations (I remember it in the 80's) and have had this thought of ''okay, there's one guy at the top watching over all this stuff and he's responsible for great strides'' (or blame for failure) ...
but THAT'S NOT TRUE ... not exactly
truly what a 'Czar' does is outside of the law ... they do not report to anyone but the President....
there's no supervisors, no one making sure they aren't wasting our tax dollars, no one to make sure they are actually DOING their jobs....
but worst of all it screws with the "Checks & Balances" of our country ... you might remember this from high school government, although I recall learning it in elementary school ....
No single branch of government is allowed to have too much power, each gets to check on the others work .... Legislative (congress - senate & house), Executive (president), and Judicial (law enforcers such as courts & US Supreme Court) .... its a good idea in most cases --- yes things can bog down but its better than having one agenda being crammed down our throats [let it pass, ginger]
Well Czars put a bit more power into the executive branch ... gives them more 'reach' if you will ... most Presidents only have a few of them (like the Drug Czar) ... but for some reason there has been a total EXPLOSION of Czars under Obama's administration.
Czar's used to be called "Dictators" in FDRs days ... which really gives you a better sense of what the position is ... "Czar" dresses it up too much -- but its the SAME THING. It was Nixon I guess who switched the term over [I'm surprised they are still using it]
They get APPOINTED by the President ... they don't have to go thru any sort of Confirmation hearings, no election process, just a simple vetting or background check - which we have seen in the last couple of decades SUCK -- no one has a say but the President who gets to sit on these very very powerful political seats.
no one.
not even the VP can stop him.
So he could fill them with a bunch of lackies -- lap dogs who will do exactly what the President wants (no matter who the President is) and pretty much force thru whatever regulations POTUS wants even if Congress or the Courts say otherwise.
This is really bad in this respect. Especially in the political field we have today ....
who many times has a person been elected in for taking one stance, but then once they got into office it seemed like they had a whole different agenda that they had kept quiet about? Or how mnay officials have been elected and then switched parties lately? or how many officials have been elected and then seem to have gone nuts -- or out for their own interests instead of the the people who elected them?
And most of the Czar's really don't need a special position - they could easily operate within the regular scope of existing Departments of Government .... I found one site that seemed to have a very good list of Czar titles -- I do not know which ones are purely Obama-created posts and which have been around but here it is: 16 in all at last count.
- Energy Czar (created under Nixon)
- Urban Affairs Czar
- Infotech Czar
- Paith-based Czar
- Health Reform Czar
- New TARP Czar
- Stimulas Accountability Czar
- Non-Prolifereation Czar
- Terrorism Czar
- Regulatory Czar
- Drug Czar
- Guantanamor Closure Czar
- Great Lakes Czar (budget $475 Million to study sucker fish)
- Economic Czar
- Government Performance Czar
- Intelligence Czar (oversees the FBI, CIA, and other agencies)
Hmmmm .... where did our government lose its way? Anyone?
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