An ‘America First’ transition: Ready on day one
The Article Originally Appeared in the Washington Times
In theory, winning a presidential election should be the ultimate expression of the people choosing the direction of the executive branch of which policies they want to see enacted over the next four years. The idea is simple enough.
In reality, however, an election is just the beginning. The enactment of the policies that define a presidency is often left to the whims of unelected bureaucrats who seek to slow-walk or stop the will of the people.
On Nov. 5, 2024, an incoming administration will have only 76 days — less than three months — to prepare for the inauguration and the start of a new presidency. This includes hiring a small army of appointees and developing a suite of mature policies.
But perhaps most importantly, a new America First presidency will have to confront an entrenched administrative state — the principal barrier to effectively carrying out a presidential policy agenda.
Of the major institutions created in the past 100 years, the administrative state is at once the most consequential and the most threatening. It usurps the power of the people and their elected officials and leverages knowledge of the bureaucratic process to pursue its own agenda.
This subversion of the Constitution used to occur mostly in the shadows, but in the last administration, we saw corrupt actors of the administrative state boldly and openly undermine the elected president in favor of their own policy goals.
The mission of the America First Transition Project is to ensure that any incoming administration is prepared to take over the reins of government by creating a plan for what they must do to rein in the administrative state and quickly advance an America First agenda.