Common Core Disruptors’ Book Takes On The Threat of The Administrative State

Here in Missouri we know their names well.  Emmet McGroarty, Jane Robbins and Erin Tuttle of the American Principles Project have published a book, Deconstructing the Administrative State: The Fight for Liberty, which looks at the threat of unelected federal bureaucratic control, at least partially through the lens of the Common Core battle. Stanley Kurtz at National Review wrote a great piece on it which gives you the highlights if you can’t wait to read the whole book.

“Whereas critiques of the administrative state generally focus on history or law, McGroarty, Robbins, and Tuttle draw on their background to highlight the frustrating and sometimes ugly day-to-day politics of the administrative state, examining the state and local levels, as well as the federal.”

“McGroarty, Robbins, and Tuttle spotlight the administrative state’s assault on the constitutional authority of the states. Sad to say, vast swathes of state policy are now effectively controlled by anonymous federal technocrats.”

“In fundamental ways, however, the modern practice of conditioning federal grants on state acceptance of federal dictates undermines the Founders’ intent. Taxing state residents and then conditioning the receipt of these funds on states’ acceptance of federal demands is “coercive, confiscatory, and profoundly corrosive to the federal structure of our Constitution,” say McGroarty et al.”

Our readers will no doubt recognize themes that we have written about as well.

“[T]he intellectual armature of the administrative state: government-sponsored research. While some of this research has value, plenty of federally-sponsored “research” merely enshrines the policy preferences of progressive bureaucrats and their academic allies… a vast federal research apparatus tainted by funding-induced bias and phony objectivity buttresses the administrative state.”

The book offers a blueprint for what it will take to exercise the constitutional control the people are supposed to have over an over-reaching government.

“…from passage of the REINS Act (requiring congressional approval of major regulations), to prohibitions on the federal government making grants to state subdivisions, to bans on federal determination of the membership of state and local boards or commissions, and many other recommendations. Above all, they call for a movement of the people rise up and demand these reforms.”

The American Principles Project senior fellows have done a lot to support Missouri’s battle against Common Core and student data collection. Help support them by getting their well researched book, Deconstructing the Administrative State: The Fight for Liberty, 

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