> While complimentary, the various policy, legislating, rules making, procedures, and enforcement are distinct activities in the governmental stack.
I agree that there are distinct activities. In our system, there are three distinct activities: lawmaking, law execution and law application; they correspond to the legislative, executive and judicial branches of government.
It’s clear to me that regulations with the force of law must be passed by the Congress, while regulations applied within the executive without the force of law may be promulgated by the executive.
> By necessity, legislators delegate rule making to agencies.
I don’t see that it is in any way necessary, and I do see that it is extremely dangerous to a republican system of government. Every member of the executive ultimately answers to a single man: the President. If the Congress enables the President to dictate the content of a law, then that one man is a dictator.
The Founders did not want a king, and the Constitution does not allow one. Again, to quote the document: ‘All [emphasis added] legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress …’ Not some legislative powers, but all.
> Who do you want determining the precise definition of a kilogram? Congress or NIST?
It’s not about what you or I want; it’s about what the supreme law of the land allows.
As it happens, it wouldn’t bother me if Congress set the definition of the kilogram. Why would it bother you?
> Do you really want legislators doing the technical and operational evaluation of tabulators?
Again, it’s not about what I want, but what the law requires. In the case of tabulation, that seems pretty clearly an executive responsibility. The rules for tabulation seem to be pretty clearly a legislative responsibility.
If one doesn’t like that arrangement, then one is free to advocate for changing the Constitution! An amendment such as ‘The President or his delegate may issue a law defining weights and measures’ would work. I think that it’d be a bad idea, because it gives too much authority to one man (imagine if some future president issued a law defining that any use of the meter is to be punished with death …).