The Czar Chamber

[In which I discuss why the appointment by the President of commissioners or "czars", who are not subject to Congressional scrutiny, effects a phantom system of governance by the Executive Branch via an end-around of Constitutional checks and balances.]

Related Link » Congressional Oversight

“Congressional Oversight refers to oversight by the United States Congress of the Executive Branch. This Oversight includes review, monitoring, and supervision of federal agencies, programs, activities, and policy implementation. [...] It is an integral part of the American system of checks and balances.”
 — From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Related Link » Senior Democrat Says Obama's Czars Unconstitutional

“Czar Kenneth Feinberg has the authority to set the pay scale for executives at any company receiving government money. [...] The Founding Fathers specifically wrote the Constitution [such] that no principal officers could exercise any power unless the U.S. Senate decided to confirm them. That was also why [the Founding Fathers] specified that, even for inferior officers, only Congress could create their positions and could still require them to answer to Congress.”
 — Published Jun. 15, 2009 by Ken Klukowski

Related Link » The Star Chamber

“The Star Chamber was an English court of law that sat at the royal Palace of Westminster until 1641. [...] Over time it evolved into a political weapon and has become a symbol of the misuse and abuse of power by the English monarchy and courts.” [emphasis added]
 — From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The appointing of Presidential czars did not originate with The Obaminator, but He has expanded the practice by an order of magnitude. Not a week goes by without another such appointment, which we have come to observe is The Way of The One: It doesn't matter much what you do, as long as you push the envelope.

The general public, the majority of whom believe His Obamitude can do no wrong, seem to shrug off this growing Czar Chamber as just another clever way for The Obaminator to create new jobs. But I suspect there is not a general understanding of the negative implications for our Constitutional Republic of such an expansion of Presidential powers.

Unlike any Cabinet Secretary and all the lesser positions reporting up the chain of command to their corresponding Secretary (as well as all military personnel reporting up the chain of command to the Joint Chiefs of Staff), each Czar reports directly to the President and is protected from Congressional oversight just as the White House Chief of Staff is, together with other close Presidential advisors holding such privileged positions.

Clearly, the expansion of officers reporting to the President without Congressional Oversight is directly proportional to the expansion of the President's own powers to act without Congressional Oversight. It is one thing for the President's foreign policy to be implemented via the State Department, for example. It is quite another for the President's directives to be administered by one of his many Czars. The former is controlled to a significant extent by Congressional Oversight (not the least of it via Congressional budgetary powers). The latter is not.

h/t WRAL.com

Post #831 The Czar Chamber