Obama Czars Deserve Fate of Russian Tzars

They are shadowy figures.  Most enjoy six-figure salaries.  Few appear in public.  Their activities are cloaked in secrecy.  They are seldom held accountable.  Yet they wield enormous power.  Even the media can't determine exactly how many there are.  But their numbers are growing.

They are the czars of the Obama Administration.

Since taking office, President Obama has installed personal advisors in so-called czar positions in the White House and elsewhere in the executive branch.  At last count, there were about 45.   In addition, there may be as many as 18 other unfilled czar jobs.  But those numbers remain circumspect.

Those crowned czars by Obama include: Car Czar, Climate Czar, Drug Czar, TARP Czar, Technology Czar, Terrorism Czar, Oil Spill Czar, Safe Schools Czar, Science Czar, Regulatory Czar, Stimulus Accountability Czar, Pay Czar, Green Energy Czar and Great Lakes Czar.

And that's just a partial list.  Virtually every one of these czars has shared responsibilities for issues that are under the purview of either Cabinet level executives or heads of the endless list of federal government departments.  The amount of redundancy is staggering.

These czars are largely unaccountable to Congress.  Their activities often are not covered by the Freedom of Information Act, which allows the individuals to operate with almost no public scrutiny.  That provides cover for the czars to conduct their activities in secrecy.

In 2011, the House tacked on an amendment to a spending package to defund a select list of czars.  After it was approved, it went nowhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate.  President Obama breathed a sigh of relief and quietly began plans to expand the czar regime.

In fact, as part of the bogus American Jobs Act the president proposed a whole new group of czars.  These faceless autocrats will be charged with managing more than a trillion dollars in taxpayer funds to construct bridges, highways, waterways and other infrastructure projects.

Doesn't the Department of Transportation have responsibility for those matters?  Why does the nation need another layer of bureaucracy?

The media should demand answers to those questions from the president.  No way that will happen.

Instead, the mainstream media looks the other way while President Obama continues to build a shadow government that operates out of view from the prying eyes of taxpayers who are funding the excesses of his administration.

In fairness, President George W. Bush dabbled in czars, too.  But Obama has raised the number as a way to avoid having to seek Senate confirmation for often controversial appointees.  Some of the more disreputable Obama czars have disappeared never to be heard from again.

Independent Judicial Watch has sued in federal court to gain information about the specific activities of some czars.  An impartial media would have exposed long ago the idea of giving unaccountable officials the power to regulate and control wide swaths of the economy and government.

In a democracy, there is no room for czars.  Americans should demand an end to the practice.  Even Russia's swooning infatuation with tzars came to a close in 1917, some 96 years ago.  It's time for the U.S. to follow suit.