The administrative state’s legitimacy crisis (Philip A. Wallach, Brookings)

As the 2016 presidential campaign makes clear, Americans today are bitterly disappointed with their government. People have begun to doubt not only its recent performance, but its basic legitimacy: its claim to be a uniquely representative institution working on the public’s behalf. Anxiety about our administrative state—broadly speaking, “bureaucracy,” which includes controversial agencies like the EPA and IRS—and its compatibility with our ideals of self-government is at the heart of our contemporary legitimacy crisis.

http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2016/04/20-administrative-state-legitimacy-crisis-wallach