Libertarians constantly warn partisans of both sides to be wary of expanding executive power. With each changing of the guard, the ascendant party seems to suffer a collective amnesia in its push to grant the president ever greater authority to enact their preferred agenda. Republicans and Democrats alike neglect the fact that giving power to “Leviathan” works like a ratchet: it only moves in one direction. In the waning hours of President Obama’s lame duck term, his administration is rushing to pass hundreds of new regulations which will saddle the nation well beyond his formal exit from office. Sam Batkins, Director of regulatory policy at the American Action Forum, is putting a spotlight on the costs of this “midnight regulation.” His research shows how this is problem is getting worse with each out-going administration. Batkins joins Bob to review that latest round of administrative lawmaking, with the EPA leading General Obama’s “last stand” – battling to the end for efficiency standards for every imaginable machine and appliance. To paraphrase George Orwell, if you want to picture the future, imagine a fluorescent lamp stamping on a human face – forever.

• American Action Forum

• @SamBatkins

• Regulations at the End of the Obama Administration - Podcast, The Federalist Society,  September 23, 2016

• [Audio] “I’ve got a pen and a phone” - President Obama

• Professor Bernstein vs. President Obama: Battle of the Con Law Professors, January 3, 2016

• Lawson Bader on *I, Whiskey* & Curtailing the Regulatory State, July 19, 2015

• Has America Become an "Elective Monarchy"?, October 24, 2014

• The New Royal Prerogative: Philip Hamburger on Administrative Law, September 04, 2014

• The Supreme Court Has Spoken: The Unanimous Decision in U.S. Army Corp of Engineers v. Hawkes, July 5, 2016

On this day in 1790, President George Washington delivers the first State of the Union address to the assembled Congress in New York City.