The EPA is a land-grabbing organization that relentlessly challenges the principle of private property. Trump just took it out to the woodshed.

Trump just signed an executive order to roll back the power increase the Obama administration granted to the EPA. This is good for freedom and good for citizens, so of course the liberals are screaming about how terrible it is:

The far-reaching order he unveiled Tuesday instructs federal regulators to rewrite key Obama-era rules curbing U.S. carbon emissions — namely the Clean Power Plan, which was intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the nation’s electric plants. It also seeks to lift a moratorium on federal coal leasing and remove the requirement that federal officials consider the impact of climate change when making decisions.

In sum, it amounts to a wholesale rebuke of Obama’s environmental efforts.

Several of the measures could take years to implement and are unlikely to change broader economic trends that are pushing the nation toward cleaner sources of energy than coal. But the order sent an unmistakable message about the direction in which Trump wants to take the country — toward unfettered oil and gas production, with an apathetic eye to worries over global warming.

Climate change is dead. Citizens do not care. In a Gallup poll from 2016, only 41% of the respondents said they thought global warming will pose a serious threat to them during their lifetime. Fifty-seven percent said they didn’t think it would.

TOOTHLESS AGREEMENTS

The much-hyped global warming parties held every so often have no force behind them. The last big gathering that occurred with the signing of the climate change treaty in Paris in December of 2015 was a tempest in a teapot. John Kerry made a last-minute change that completely destroyed the agreement. Spun as the correction of a random typo that changed “should” to “shall,” the US almost backed out. We would not sign the agreement with the world “shall” in place.

“Shall” is legal language for “you must do this or you will be sued.” Should, on the other hand, means “Eh, you can do what you want, but you really really should.”

If the US had signed that climate change agreement with the word “shall” instead of “should,” we would have come under the authority of some international body of unelected bureaucrats. We would have surrendered our sovereignty without the say-so of Congress.

Needless to say, it didn’t happen. That’s because no one really believes in climate change. Not even under the Obama administration did we give in to the pressure to sign international treaties. But Obama did expand the power of the EPA. In the name of “climate change,” the EPA can basically steal the private property of any citizen it wants. This is a way to increase federal control.

ANGRY LIBERALS

Liberals are outraged. They say Trump’s spanking of the EPA is bad for us:

Meanwhile, former Obama administration officials expressed outrage.

“President Trump’s executive order to roll back vital climate and clean air protections this afternoon is the most brazen and transparent assault on the health of Americans in my lifetime,” said Heather Zichal, former deputy assistant to the president for energy and climate change.

The EPA has zero concern for the health of Americans. It has full concern with increasing its budget. It can justify an increase in its budget if it can show that it has expanded its jurisdiction and responsibility. Taking the land of private citizens helps them justify that they need to hire more employees to manage all the paperwork. Hiring more employees is how existing employees get promotions and raises.

In a now notorious case, the EPA ruined the dreams of a family who purchased some land with the intent to build a home on it. Before they barely got started, the EPA showed up and claimed the area was wetlands, which placed it under EPA jurisdiction. They threatened to fine the couple $32,000 a day if they didn’t undo the changes they had made.

BYPASSING JUSTICE

The EPA is tyrannical because, as an administrative agency, it combines the legislative, executive, and judicially branches of government into one body. The Constitution splits these functions up. Administrative agencies feature in-house administrative law judges. This allows them to bypass the jury trial.

Juries can decide whatever they want. They don’t have to listen to the judge. They can rule in favor of the defendant on grounds that the law is bogus. This puts the power in the hands of the people. Administrative law agencies like the EPA keep the people out of the process of justice. Therefore, there is no justice.

This is why any rollback of the EPA is good for liberty. Trump need not stop here. Nixon created the EPA by an Executive Order in 1970. Trump can make the whole organization vanish, if he wished, using the same.

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