What's also been gutted is the FEC. The GOP is great at making government dysfunctional, but ever noticed it's only the parts of government they dislike? You never see anyone complaining about how the military doesn't work, or the FBI and CIA doesn't work. No one ever says the Treasury Dept. is full of wasteful spending. But the Education Dept, Social Security, Welfare, Health and Human Services...judging by how the GOP talks about it, 105% of what they do is wasteful spending. You know, the parts of gov't that actually HELPS people.

What I'd like to see is Democrats who have the balls to cut the GOP nanny state to the point where it's completely neutured.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is finally moving ahead at full steam, thanks to Obama appointing Cordray as its head and thwarting the Republicans' attempts to block his nominee. While banks and the CFPB will constantly be at odds with one other, it's about time that a government entity was established to look out for the consumer's best interests in consumer finance matters.

Only time will tell how long it takes the Republicans to neuter the CFPB, as it did with the SEC, which in turn led to some of the largest frauds being perpetrated (WorldCom, Aldephi, Bernie Madoff, etc.)

-- Modified on 2/1/2012 8:40:24 AM

Well, the FEC has always been dysfunctional, due to its bipartisanship nature and equal number of commissioners.

I agree with your comment about the GOP not being afraid to neuter any governmental department when it suits their interests. I'll add the Dep of the Interior's MMS (Minerals Management Service) to your list. Under W. Bush, that department became so cozy with the oil industry that its regulators were having sex and doing drugs with executives of the very industry they were supposed to regulate. Republican hypocrisy at its finest.