Clint Eastwood’s iconic Dirty Harry Callahan uttered one of the greatest movie lines of all time: “A man’s got to know his limitations.” It would appear no one in Washington, D.C. has ever heard of Harry or his weighty wisdom.

No one in our nation’s capitol seems to think they are limited in any way. Not by any personal shortcomings – it’s like everyone who enters the city limits thinks they magically transmogrify from Clark Kent into Superman. And they certainly find no limits placed upon them by anything as quaint and antiquated as the Constitution.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a classic example of very limited men and women behaving boundlessly. To begin, it can be easily argued that the Agency shouldn’t even exist. The federal government’s powers must by the Constitution be expressly enumerated – and nowhere therein does it get anywhere near enumerating what is being done by the EPA.

I have the “1800 Rule” (the year, not the tequila). If a government agency or program was created after 1800 – it most likely shouldn’t exist. Because in 1800 the guys who created the government – were running the government. They knew what they intended it to do – and by 1800 were having it do it. The EPA was founded on December 2, 1970 – just a little past the sell-by date.

For the sake of argument, let’s move past the EPA’s unconstitutional existence – and look at it as just another Executive Branch agency. Which means it is actually a creation and creature of the Legislative Branch – Congress. The EPA can not do anything unless and until Congress first passes a law that says “Hey EPA – do this.”

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Source: Seton Motley, http://www.redstate.com