EDITORIAL - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson believes that the Federal Reserve needs new and sweeping power over the control and regulation of Wall Street to “protect the financial system”, according to a recently published Washington Post report.

In a speech that he plans to give Thursday, Paulson argues that our nation has come to expect the Federal Reserve to intervene in the private commercial sector to prevent events that may lead to deep-seeded financial risk within the industry.

Typical of a government official, especially today, to believe that the American people not only accept government involvement, but expect it. Typical of a government official to use his position of power to further advance the size, shape and scope of the Federal Reserve and government forces in an effort to somehow “fix” what they consider to be a problem – without regard, of course, to the possibility of the government being the cause of the problem to begin with.

“We should quickly consider how to appropriately give the Fed the authority to access necessary information from highly complex financial institutions and the responsibility to intervene in order to protect the system.”

The incessant lowering of interest rates and the continued mortgage crisis is only a sliver of proof that the Federal Reserve does not possess the requisite fortitude to control and regulate the financial market, and in many ways, may actually make things worse by perpetuating the very problems that they set out to solve.

Contrary to what Paulson believes, the best solution to societal problems almost always rests with the American people, not an overarching governing authority like the federal government or Federal Reserve. The stimulus for real solutions come from the local, not the national, level, and Paulson would be wise to realize that the Feds simply cannot be expected to magically prevent institutional problems that have existed for years.

Paulson’s plan further implements the goal of almost every national politician: control. It satisfies the next step in creating a government that influences virtually every aspect of our lives, from the schools we send our children to, to the television and radio stations we tune into, to the credit institutions we patronize and the stocks we buy. This is about control; nothing but control.

Wealthy politicians are problem causers, not problem solvers. Bite your tongue, Mr. Paulson, for using the ill-conceived and entirely baseless assumption that the people expect federal regulation as the main driving rationale behind your furtherance of government control.

You may fool some of us, but you will not fool us all.