Elect me!

The Washington Post has an interesting article about proposed government restructuring.

On the whole, I am not opposed to streamlining the government. The fact is Washington is a rat's nest of departments, agencies, and commissions that do work at cross-purposes. It could use a good cleaning up. I'm just wondering about some of the choices here.

Here's how I'd do it.

• Take the Departments of Labor and Commerce and combine them into the Department of Economic Development.


• Health and Human Services and Education become the Department of Health and General Welfare. I choose that name because the words general welfare appear in the Preamble to the Constitution as one of the duties of the government.


• Agriculture, Transportation, and Housing & Urban Development get folded into the Department of the Interior. One agency overseeing American land management.


• The Department of Veterans Affairs is dissolved as a civilian agency and becomes a branch of the military, headed by a four-star medical officer. This will cut down on the bureaucratic nightmare of records transfers.


• The Department of Homeland Security is broken up. The US Coast Guard goes to the Interior. State takes over border control and immigration and naturalization duties. All other law enforcement functions devolve to the fine folks at Justice.

There, down to seven official cabinet positions. I'd also take a chainsaw to the "czars" that populate the executive branch. Many of these are the result of Congress passing their Article I duties to the Executive Branch. Get ready to work Fridays, Capitol Hill!

The savings potential should be obvious. Aside from reduced headcounts due to eliminating redundant programs and offices, we'll see savings from a more streamlined bureaucracy.