Back in 1996, when I wrote the first edition of my Ten Thousand Commandments survey of the regulatory state for CEI (in which then and now I urge that Congress rather than unelected agencies answer to the people for the burdens and costs of regulation), a Washington Post story on the report was headlined, “A Think Tank Tenet: Thou Shalt Hold Congress Accountable.” Trump’s promise comes nearly a quarter century later.
“ My Administration will continue pressing forward until we have made every last vestige of Washington fully, completely, and totally accountable to the citizens of the United States.” In wrapping up, and before introducing Vice President Pence, Trump assured the crowd: Our regulatory reforms are vital, not only to the success of our economy, but the strength of our democracy, and the survival of liberty itself.” We believe in the dignity of the individual, not the iron grip of the state. “ Unlike the socialists, we believe in the rule of the people, not the rule of the unelected bureaucrats that don’t know what they’re doing. My favorite takeaway from Trump’s South Lawn remarks: But the streamlining campaign under Trump has nonetheless been unique, explicitly taking on the administrative state and the progressive ideology sweeping the nation. I’ve taken to calling these discordant moves (like antitrust, tech and trade interventions) “swamp things,” and see them as a genuine threat to the foundations of the reform enterprise. To be sure, a substantial amount of regulation has been added during the Trump administration, too. Changes such as improved access to telemedicine spurred by 2020’s health crisis that shut down so much of the economy were also touted, with the president asserting that, “In total, we’ve taken more than 740 actions to suspend regulations that would have slowed our response.” Such measures have featured prominently this summer in the “NeverNeeded” regulations campaign of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (my own organization).
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