What is a Czar, and Why Does Obama Have 16 of Them?

Czar – noun

1. An Emperor or king
2. An Autocratic ruler or leader
3. Any person exercising great authority or power in a particular field

(source dictionary.com)

Before you get worked up over the definition of a Czar, it should be known that we have used them in our history before. Roosevelt was the first president to use Czars in his administration, they were, at the time called Dictators. They were in place to regulate certain parts of commerce, similar to the Obama administration. Nixon used Czars as well but calling them “Dictators” would be a bad political move, so he named them Czars. They have been used by a few presidents since, rarely and in cases of Emergency because of the power they hold.

The power Czars have is the reason they are used. Like the president, they are part of the Executive branch, and do NOT answer to the congress. They are not appointed by congress and go through no vetting process. They can claim executive power if they are asked to testify before congress, and do not have to answer questions to congress, or the American people. Obviously they are not elected officials so the American people have no say in who gets the job, and if they do a poor job, only the President can remove them.

Under the Obama administration, Czar Usage has been taken to a whole new level. In the few months that Obama has been in office he has appointed 16 Czars, they include,

· Energy Czar, Carol Browner
· Border Czar, Alan Berstein
· Pay Czar, Kenneth Feinberg
· Car Czar (Leader of small taskforce), Steve Rattner
· Urban Czar, Adolfo Carrion Jr
· Infotech Czar Vivek Kundra
· Faith Czar, Joshua DuBois
· Health Reforme Czar, Nancy-Ann DeParle
· TARP Czar, Herb Allison
· Stimulus Accountability Czar, Earl Devaney
· Non-Proliferation Czar, Gary Samore
· Terrorism Czar, John Brennan
· Regulatory Czar, Cass Sunstein
· Drug Czar, Gil Kerlikowske
· Guantanamo Closure Czar, Damiel Fried
· Great Lakes Czar, Cameron Davis

Credit to David J Rothkopf for is Article on ForeignPolicy.com for many on the list!

Together this List of Czars oversee Billions of US Tax Dollars and they don’t have to answer to Congress or anyone. Obama doesn’t have to go before Congress to get approval to spend he just appoints another Czar. The Irony behind these Czars, most of them mirror current administrations in our Government. There is a Department of Homeland Security, and Border and Terror Czars, a FDA and a Drug Czar, a Securities and Exchange Committee, and US Treasury, but also Pay Czar, and Regulatory Czar, the list goes on. Why would be the incentive to use Czars over current branches of Government to get the Job done?

That is where Regulation, Power and Control fit into the big picture. The current forms of Administrations all answer to the Congress, they Report to the President but Answer to Congress. They get all their funding from Congress and Congress has the power over them. This has been part of our government’s “checks and balances” for hundreds of years, and is Vital to our Country’s freedom. With this significant entourage of Dictators, oops I mean Czars, the Obama administration gets to exert MORE Executive power over other Agencies of the Government. Who knows how long this List of Czars will get, it seems at this rate Obama will fufil his promise to create 100K jobs this summer by appointing 100K Czars to his Administration.

While many on this list of Czars were appointed more as figureheads to fulfill promises during his campaign, they still oversee Billion of US Tax Dollars and are completely unregulated. For instance the Great Lakes Czar to, “Oversee the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to clean up the Great Lakes,” is not really a big deal, I mean they only have 5 Billion to spend (Obama was praised by the Media having a task force appointed to save 100 million from the budget over the course of 90 Days). Some of these Czars oversee Hundreds of Millions of Dollars, and in the example of the Pay Czar, will be pushing for controversial private sector regulations on the Salaries of executives. Regulations like this should be going through Congress and the US Treasury, not a person who answers to “no one except the president”.

Voters polled fail to identify leaders in the Republican Party

If the republicans are going to emerge as a viable political party, they need a leader. On today’s front page of the USA Today an article shows the results of a recent poll. This poll was conducted to see who people thought the “Voice” of the Republican Party is. The results show Rush Limbaugh in 1st place with 13% of the vote, followed by Dick Cheney, John McCain, and Newt, 52% had no clue. I guess the Irony behind the results are the fact that despite the poll showing all of the leaders being, “Old White Balding Males”, as the article put it, in truth the leader of the RNC is a Younger (then them) African American Male.

After seeing the article featured on MSNBC, with both the anchors eating up every opportunity to criticize and get a laugh out of the reality of the RNC challenges, I figured it was important to shed some light on the matter. Yes there are Old Republicans, but in life older generally meets with wiser. When voters were polled during the 2008 Election, they overwhelmingly said that McCain had the Experience, but Barak Obama won on “Change”.

When it comes down to it, if you can’t win on your weaknesses you have to play to your strengths. The older Republicans should be using their experience in politics to turn things over on the media and the Democrats. It seems all too often the younger Republicans will not come forward and step up to be a voice, because they are afraid of the Obama Popularity and his following. Look at what happened with the Arlen Specter, he was so worried his district would switch parties, essentially because of the popularity of Obama, for which he has been a republican in for years, would switch on him. To save reelection he flopped parties.

In contrast to what the party IS doing, what they SHOULD be doing is playing to the real base that is out there. Many studies have been done to show that the Country, as a whole, is a Center Right country. Just look at the flip Abortion has done in the last year, more people now consider themselves Pro-Life than Pro-Choice. People WANT a leader that can compromise to get things done, that can cut spending without making it harder on Americans, and a leader that doesn’t make radical points just to get media attention.

Rush Limbaugh has not emerged as a “Voice for republicans” but as a “Voice for Liberals to Label Republicans with”. Rush IS the voice of talk radio, and he makes allot of good points, but sometimes he takes it a little too far, and when in the spotlight, that just leads to talking points on Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann Shows. Allot of people on the Right, and people that really understand Washington and Politics, understand rush, but be is alienating the Center Right people, because of controversial comments.

Bill O’reilly on Fox News has toned down somewhat lately and is a good voice for the older Generation, and Glenn Beck in the Afternoon is a good voice for Younger Republicans, but hardly anyone sees him because he is on at 5:00. I know my wife has become a big Glenn Beck fan because he really explains things in a down to earth straightforward laid out kind of way, a way that normal people can understand and say “Wow I never looked at the spending that way.” That is what Conservatives need more of, leaders that point out, in quick 2 minute economics lessons, the true consequences of Liberal Ideals.

Lastly I will conclude with a couple Videos from “10000Pennies” They are incredibly informative example on Jobs and the Stimulus plan, and how the Stimulus money is being spent.

This one is on the Budget cuts Obama Promised