The left is never satisfied, are they?
The American Left is predictably outraged by the
SCOTUS decision in
Trump v. Slaughter.
Why?
Because it neuters their primary power base: the unelected, bureaucratic, tyrannical
Leviathan of the federal administrative state, the same cabal that decides for all of us what kind of
light bulbs we are allowed to own and what sort of medical care the average American is allowed to
have when we get old.
Democrats are
claiming that this case allows the President to fire any federal employee, reinstating the spoils system. That's not true: Trump v. Slaughter is a comparatively narrow holding that allows the President to fire some
FTC commissioners (and likely the heads of similar independent agencies) at will for policy or political reasons.
Rank-and-file federal employees are still protected by the Civil Service Reform Act, but it is not entirely unreasonable to see
Trump v. Slaughter as the first step in a series of precedents giving the President broader powers over all federal employees.
Thus, it is important to understand the Democrat argument against the ruling on an informed basis so those of us who value the Constitution can counter their dishonesty.
If you took
American Government 101 as a college freshman, you may remember being taught that the “
spoils system” was a horrible tragedy.
Historically attributed to
President Andrew Jackson, the idea was that when a new President was elected, he got to decide who filled the functional jobs in the departments of the Executive Branch.
The neo-Marxist PhDs who taught you in college decided this was horrible, which was why you were taught this way. The "solution" was the establishment of a supposedly professional, supposedly apolitical, supposedly independent civil service that would run the basic executive functions of the federal government.
This “solution" was implemented in 1883 when
President Chester A. Arthur signed the
Pendleton Act into law, establishing the U.S. federal civil service as a merit-based system. The Pendleton Act required competitive exams and hiring processes for many federal positions, and created the
United States Civil Service Commission to oversee hiring and protect employees from political firings (this was later dissolved and replaced by three separate agencies: the
Office of Personnel Management, the
Merit Systems Protection Board and the
Federal Labor Relations Authority).
So maybe the civil service was actually a good idea when instituted. Maybe it really was “professional" once. Maybe it really was “apolitical" once. Maybe it really was “independent” once.
Maybe.
In 1883 the entire non-military federal workforce consisted of approximately 132,000 employees.
Today, the entire non-military federal workforce consists of
2,021,167 employees.
In 1883 there was no federal income tax.
Today, the top marginal federal income tax rate is
37%.
In 1883 there were no federal government employee unions.
Today, federal government employee unions are among the most very
powerful organizations in U.S. society.
MOST IMPORTANTLY:
over 90% of all federal employee union campaign contributions go to Democrats. (Which also means, of course, that federal employees
overwhelmingly vote for Democrats.)
So let us tie those facts together, shall we?
The supposedly "independent" federal work force almost exclusively supports Democrat candidates.
Their union collects dues paid for by the tax dollars of productive capitalist Americans. Those tax dollars are then given to Democrat campaigns, electing Democrats.
Then those same elected Democrats reach into the bottomless pit of American income tax collections to give those same federal workers more jobs, more job security, more money and more benefits.
The federal employees and the Democrats scratch each others' backs, and those of us who actually create wealth suffer and pay the price--all while those same privileged, unelected federal employees endlessly create new tyrannical rules that burden our daily lives with unneeded, often unconstitutional rules and regulations.
And firing them is virtually impossible.
It's a doom loop of unaccountable tyranny. It's the Leviathan.
Democrats claim
Trump v. Slaughter will reinstate the spoils system. What they ignore is that in 2026 the only spoils system is the permanent one of the Democrat Party.
What
Trump v. Slaughter ACTUALLY does is restore voter accountability to our federal government. Those unelected bureaucrats can no longer wield power against the electorate, unchecked by the votes of that same electorate.
Democrats claim to love democracy. All
Trump v. Slaughter does is restore democracy, which is why Democrats hate it.
View: https://x.com/CynicalPublius/status/2071710314278609007?s=20
