“The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous,” Frederick Douglass once declared. Today, that security is being eroded not by foreign powers or elected officials, but by unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats entrenched in federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Education (ED).
These agencies were not born of the people’s will, yet they act as masters – issuing edicts, enforcing agendas, and ignoring the consent of the governed. They answer to no one, yet they rule millions.
The Rise of the Bureaucratic State
Our founders designed a government based on consent. The people elect representatives, and those representatives are supposed to write and pass laws. But much of the governing power has shifted into the hands of unelected bureaucrats.
What happens when people we never voted for start making, enforcing and interpreting the rules we must live by? That’s exactly what these federal agencies do. They’ve become the fourth branch of government that answers to no one but itself.
The EPA and ED are prime examples of how this shadow government operates. They issue regulations with the force of law, punish those who don't comply, and impose agendas that were never approved by Congress. This isn’t liberty. This is administrative tyranny.
The EPA: Choking Liberty in the Name of Clean Air
No one wants polluted air or contaminated water. The EPA has gone far beyond its original mission. The EPA routinely crushes small farmers, landowners, and energy producers with burdensome regulations. In one outrageous case, a family in Wyoming was fined $75,000 per day for building a small pond on their own property because the EPA decided it violated the Clean Water Act.
The EPA is no longer about environmental stewardship. It’s about power. Its unelected officials act like kings, rewriting the rules of land use and energy production in a way that strangles economic opportunity.
The ED: Indoctrination Over Education
Then there’s the ED – a bloated agency that’s done more to dumb down America than to lift it up.
Since its creation in 1979 under President Jimmy Carter, the ED has ballooned in size and cost. Student outcomes have flatlined. Despite pouring billions into federal programs, U.S. students lag behind top-performing nations in reading and math. Why? Because the ED isn’t focused on education – it’s focused on ideology.
The ED is run by people we didn’t elect. For years, it has pushed political agendas and failed to improve our schools – all without the consent of the people.
That’s why I agree with President Trump’s proposal to eliminate the ED. For one, it’s not in the Constitution. Education is a state and local responsibility. The federal government’s involvement has come at the cost of parental authority and local control. When the ED funds education, it routinely comes with Marxist strings.
The ED dictates national standards, curriculums, and funding conditions – none of which are directly voted on by the people. From pushing critical race theory to gender confusion, the ED has become a pipeline for Marxist indoctrination, not academic excellence.
Bureaucrats in D.C. have no business telling our children what to think, believe or reject.
Frederick Douglass and Consent
At 12 years old, Frederick Douglass paid 50 cents for a book that would change his life: “The Columbian Orator.” Filled with speeches, essays and dialogues by men like Cicero, George Washington, and Benjamin Franklin, these writings focus on freedom, justice, human rights, and the power of moral argument. They teach the value of speaking truth, standing against tyranny, and using reason instead of violence to win others over. For a young boy born into slavery, these ideas were life changing.
One particular dialogue captured young Douglass’ heart and mind: an imagined exchange between a slave and his master, in which the enslaved man appeals for his freedom. The master is persuaded and grants the slave his liberty. This dialogue stirred something powerful in Douglass. It confirmed what he understood: no human being has the right to own another – not by force, not by law, and not without consent.
Americans are governed by unelected bureaucrats and federal agencies that impose rules to which we never agreed. Whether it’s Washington regulators, cultural Marxism in our schools, or activist judges bypassing the people’s will – consent is under attack.
We must resist bureaucratic overreach and ideological coercion. So what can we do?
1. Demand Congressional Oversight – Congress must take back its constitutional authority. No agency should be allowed to issue rules with the force of law unless those rules are debated and passed by elected lawmakers.
2. Restore State and Local Control – This is especially needed in education. Parents and local school boards – not Washington bureaucrats – should determine what children learn in the classroom.
3. Defund the Administrative State – Agencies like the EPA and the ED should be drastically downsized or eliminated altogether. They were never approved by the people, yet they issue rules with the force of law and answer to no one. There are dozens of other federal agencies just like them, bloated with power, unaccountable to voters, and untouchable by elections.
4. Educate the Public – Americans must be introduced to Douglass’ liberty message – moral clarity, individual liberty, the limited power of government, economic prosperity, and the idea that no one should be ruled without their consent.
We must not tolerate a system where faceless bureaucrats override the will and consent of the governed. It’s time to return to constitutional authority where the people – not bureaucrats – hold the power.
To live under the rule of unelected officials – those we never chose, whose power lacks our consent – is slavery disguised as government.
As Douglass so powerfully reminded us, “Power concedes nothing without a demand.” It's time we made that demand – boldly, lawfully, and unapologetically.
