What’s wrong with this picture?
Posted on The Heritage Foundation-By Lachlan Markay-On January 10, 2012:
“Last week, President Barack Obama took the latest step on his road toward an arrogant, new authoritarianism with four illegal appointments that entirely trampled on the Constitution’s requirements. More troubling still, the President chose to shred the Constitution all in the name of serving his Big Labor agenda while killing jobs in the process.
The President’s actions once again gave voice to his animating view of governing: doing so is much easier when one isn’t constrained by the Constitution and its checks and balances. “We can’t wait,” the President exclaimed after unilaterally appointing Richard Cordray as director of the newly inaugurated Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). He also appointed three officials to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), two of whom had been nominated less than a month before.
The policy implications of the President’s appointments? The CFPB will now have unmitigated authority to issue regulation upon regulation, contributing to the already-crippling red tape that is strangling business in America. And the NLRB will have the power to advance the President’s agenda to bolster unions across the country at the expense of job growth in a smarting economy.
For what, exactly, can’t the President wait? Quite simply, constitutional republicanism — the system of checks and balances integral to American government and political freedom. He grew impatient with the delays that inevitably accompany any legislative action an acted outside the Constitution’s mandated process. But the American people should ask, “Is such action really preferable to a deliberative, if slower-moving, constitutional republic?”
The President’s appointments last week, troubling as they are, are but the next steps on the road to a despotic form of governance that has come to characterize his Administration — and all of liberalism in America today — what authors Fred Siegel and Joel Kotkin termed in City Journal this week Obama’s “New Authoritarianism.” Frustrated by the unwillingness of the people’s representatives to enact his agenda wholesale, Obama has, from early in his Administration, sought to enact a series of proposals through administrative fiat, not the legislative process:
- The Democrat-controlled Senate rejected his cap-and-trade plan, so Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency classified carbon dioxide, the compound that sustains vegetative life, as a pollutant so that it could regulate it under the Clean Air Act.
- After Congress defeated his stealth-amnesty immigration proposal, the DREAM Act, the Department of Homeland Security instructed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to “adopt enforcement parameters that bring about the same ends as the DREAM Act,” as Heritage’s Mike Brownfield explained.
- When the woefully misnamed Employee Free Choice Act–explicitly designed to bolster labor unions’ dwindling membership rolls–was defeated by Congress, the NLRB announced a rule that would implement “snap elections” for union representation, limiting employers’ abilities to make their case to workers and virtually guaranteeing a higher rate of unionization at the expense of workplace democracy.
- After an innovation-killing Internet regulation proposal failed to make it through Congress, the Federal Communications Commission announced — on Christmas Eve, no less — that it would regulate the Web anyway, despite even a federal court’s ruling that it had no authority to do so.
- In its push for national education standards, the Education Department decided to tie waivers for the No Child Left Behind law to requirements that states adopt those standards, shutting Congress out of the effort.
- Rather than push Congress to repeal federal laws against marijuana use, the Department of Justice (DOJ) simply decided it would no longer enforce those laws.
- DOJ made a similar move with respect to the Defense of Marriage Act: rather than seeking legislative recourse, DOJ announced it would stop enforcing the law.
While these efforts are all aimed at circumventing the legislative process, none was so brazen as his four illegal appointments. Last week, Obama went one step further: He violated not just the spirit of the Constitution, which vests in Congress the power to make laws, but the letter of the law as well.
The move is “a breathtaking violation of the separation of powers,” explain former U.S. Attorney General Ed Meese and Heritage colleague Todd Gaziano, a former attorney in DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel, in a Washington Post column. “[N]ever before has a president purported to make a ‘recess’ appointment when the Senate is demonstrably not in recess,” they note. “That is a constitutional abuse of a high order.”
Dr. Matthew Spalding, vice president of American Studies and director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics at The Heritage Foundation, explains that this “new despotism” — a government where regulations and unilateral actions replace republican governance — runs entirely counter to the Founders’ vision of America:
“The greatest political revolution since the American Founding has been the shift of power away from the institutions of constitutional government to an oligarchy of unelected experts. They rule over virtually every aspect of our daily lives, ostensibly in the name of the American people but in actuality by the claimed authority of science, policy expertise, and administrative efficiency.
If this regime becomes the undisputed norm — accepted not only among the intellectual and political elites, but also by the American people, as the defining characteristic of the modern state — it could well mark the end of our great experiment in self-government.”
President Obama’s actions are exactly the kind that the Founders feared and sought to guard against. His illegal appointments usurp power from the American people’s duly elected representatives, and the regulations they will promulgate will, undoubtedly, contribute to the unabated growth of the undemocratic administrative state.
Now that the President has crossed the threshold of constitutionality, there really is no telling where he may stop. There is a clear trend here, however, and it leads further and further from the constitutional order. With these illegal appointments, the President has taken to new heights his disdain for the separation of powers. Whether it will stop here depends on Congress — Will lawmakers of both parties reassert the legislature’s constitutional authority and take a stand against Obama’s arrogant new authoritarianism?
Source:
Note: The following articles and/or blog posts and videos relate to this disturbing issue-You Decide:
I. Obama to Congress: I’ll decide what’s constitutional!
What’s disturbing about this picture?
Posted on The Daily Caller-By Chris Cox-Updated on January 6, 2012:
“Election season is here, and you might think President Obama would be going out of his way to show voters that he can be trusted with the powers of the presidency. But you would be wrong. Just a few days before Christmas, Obama served notice to all Americans that he will continue to abuse executive privilege by seeking new ways to vilify gun owners and further his anti-gun agenda.
Congress placed a provision in the $1 trillion omnibus spending bill for 2012 designed to bar the National Institutes of Health (NIH) from using any of its $30.7 billion taxpayer funds to “advocate or promote gun control.” However, upon signing the bill into law, President Obama issued a caveat of his own:
I have advised Congress that I will not construe these provisions as preventing me from fulfilling my constitutional responsibility to recommend to the Congress’s consideration such measures as I shall judge necessary and expedient.
In other words: “Congress may pass laws, but I decide which of its laws are constitutional and which I can simply choose to ignore.”
Of course, the Constitution doesn’t actually give the president this power, but Obama won’t allow a little thing like the U.S. Constitution get in his way. And in the present case, Congress is right to try to prevent him from using a federal health agency, not to mention our tax dollars, as a weapon in his ongoing war against the Second Amendment. As The Washington Times reports, NIH has wasted over $5 million since 2002 producing deceptive studies aimed at furthering gun control — including one study that tried “to prove that a home without firearms was essential to a child’s safety and well-being.”
Even more importantly, Congress knows that there is no scheme too radical, or dangerous, for the Obama administration when it comes to using federal agencies to push its anti-gun agenda.
Last month, email exchanges surfaced between employees at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) that show the administration helped illegally transfer guns to violent Mexican drug cartels in order to manufacture a case for gun registration. Now gun dealers in four Southwest border states must abide by a new gun registration requirement, courtesy of BATFE, that forces them to register the sales of any law-abiding American who purchases more than one semi-automatic rifle within five business days.
Congress never passed any law like this. Rather, Obama’s BATFE orchestrated the deadly “Fast and Furious” gun-walking scandal to give cause for its unconstitutional gun-control edict. Given this, how hard is it to envision the Obama administration issuing a phony “health” study that maligns gun owners?
Obama may not have a majority in Congress, or the will of the people, behind his anti-gun agenda. But that isn’t stopping his administration from finding deceitful ways to evade Congress and build public support for gun bans, gun registration and other regulations designed to weaken and destroy our Second Amendment rights.”
- Chris W. Cox is the executive director of the National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) and serves as the organization’s chief lobbyist.
Source:
http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/05/obama-to-congress-ill-decide-whats-constitutional/#ixzz1inCeZ7yV
II. Allen West: GOP Must Stop Obama’s ‘Imperial Presidency!’-Posted on NewsMax.com-By By Jim Meyers and Kathleen Walter-On January 10, 2012:
http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/West-obama-imperial-presidency/2012/01/10/id/423662
III. Former AG Meese: Obama’s ‘Recess’ Appointments Are a ‘Constitutional Abuse of a High Order’!-Posted on Big Government-By Dr. Susan Berry-On January 7, 2012:
IV. Video: Reagan’s Attorney General on Impeaching Obama,“Close to a Constitutional Crisis!”-Posted on ExposeObama.com-By Ben Johnson, The White House Watch-On January 7, 2012:
V. Video: Legal Analyst, Obama’s Violating the Constitution!-Posted on ExposeObama.com-On January 7, 2012:
http://www.exposeobama.com/2012/01/07/video-legal-analyst-obamas-violating-the-constitution/
VI. Video: Impeachment. If You Don’t Get it, Demand It!-Posted on ExposeObama.com-By Ben Johnson, The White House Watch-On January 7, 2012:
http://www.exposeobama.com/2012/01/07/video-impeachment-if-you-dont-get-it-demand-it/
VII. Obama Starts Constitutional Crisis: Installs New Radical Czars!-Posted on Judicial Watch Weekly Update-By Tom Fitton, President-On January 6, 2012:
http://newstracking.judicialwatch.org/l/a/74i/xi/bapi/lq/rjqi/trouble.htm#article1
VIII. Obama’s NLRB ‘Recess’ Appointees Circumvent Background Checks!-Posted on National Review Online-ByBREAKING NEWS-On January 6, 2012:
IX. The Czar-Maker Strikes Again: ‘Richard Cordray and Obama’s continuing contempt for the Constitution!’-Posted on National Review Online-By Michelle Malkin-On January 6, 2012:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/287333/czar-maker-strikes-again-michelle-malkin
X. Will Republicans Finally Impeach Over “Uncertain” Recess Appointment?-Posted on Western Journalism-By BEN JOHNSON-On January 6, 2012:
XI. Obama’s recess appointments are unconstitutional!-Posted on The Washington Post-By Edwin Meese III and Todd Gaziano-On January 5, 2012:
Note: The following articles and/or blog posts and videos reveal how our American Constitution currently faces a 'progressive' threat, along with a video that gives us some background regarding our Contstitution and our Republic-You Decide:
The Elite Are Not Even Trying To Hide How Much They Hate The U.S. Constitution Anymore!-Posted on InfoWars.com-By The American Dream-On July 5, 2011:
American Constitution faces 'progressive' threat!-Posted on WND.com-By Aaron Klein-On July 3, 2011:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=316621
Obama Versus the Constitution!-Posted on American Thinker-By James Lewis-On April 25, 2011:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/04/obama_versus_the_constitution.html
George Soros assault on U.S. Constitution: ‘White House officials involved in rewriting nation’s founding document’!-Posted on WND.com-By Aaron Klein-On March 27, 2011:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=280277
Video: A Republic, If You Can Keep It - The American Form of Government!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGL8CiUtXF0
Note: My following blog posts contain numerous articles and/or blog posts and videos that relate to this disturbing issue-You Decide:
Progressive group maps out President Obama’s strategy for next 2 years!
The Midterm Elections and the Communist Manifesto!
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/10/08/the-midterm-elections-and-the-communist-manifesto/
Progressives and Communists Are Out of the Closet Together!
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/progressives-and-communists-are-out-of-the-closet-together/
Is it important to understand the Marxist assault on the foundations of our system?
Is there a Christian basis for combating the threat of global warming?
Did ATF provide weapons to Mexican drug cartels that were subsequently used to kill one of our own?
ICE Agents Vote ‘No Confidence’ in Leaders!
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/ice-agents-vote-‘no-confidence’-in-leaders/
What Happened to Free Speech?
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/10/23/what-happened-to-free-speech/
The FCC Should Not Interfere With The Internet!
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/the-fcc-should-not-interfere-with-the-internet/
Does Our President Hate America?
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2011/03/04/does-our-president-hate-america/
Is History Repeating Itself?
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/is-history-repeating-itself/
Where Is America Today?
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2009/04/26/where-is-america-today/
Were We Forewarned About What to Expect If President Obama Got Elected?
The Russian View of What Has Been Happening In America!
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/04/22/the-russian-view-of-what-has-been-happening-in-america-2/
Is it time to call for Obama’s resignation!
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/06/09/is-it-time-to-call-for-obamas-resignation/
Washington Times Calls for Obama’s Impeachment!
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2010/08/31/washington-times-calls-for-obama’s-impeachment/
Note: If you have a problem viewing any of the listed blog posts please copy web site and paste it on your browser. Be aware that some of the articles and/or blog posts or videos listed within the contents of the above blog post(s) may have been removed by this administration because they may have considered them to be too controversial. Sure seems like any subject matter that may shed some negative light on this administration is being censored-What happened to free speech?-You Decide.
“Food For Thought”
God Bless the U.S.A.!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q65KZIqay4E&feature=related
Semper Fi!
Jake
Comments
Dear Bonnie Allyson Vinson:
Thanks for taking the time to read my blog posts and for your much appreciated comments, which I totally agree with.
Have a great day.
God Bless-Keep The Faith.
Semper Fi!
Jake