Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution requires that before presidents can assume their duties they must take the oath of office. Every president from George Washington to Barack Obama has placed their hand on a Bible and sworn,” I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
In America today just like in Lake Woebegone every child is above average and every child gets a trophy. We may score low in international grade comparisons but we rank number one in self-esteem. In other words American students may not be doing well but they think they are. Those of us old enough to remember how Dad could control the situation with a look and when you got in trouble in school your parents didn’t sue or contact the School Board you got in trouble at home too are also old enough to remember Watergate.
This scandal that the general public still does not understand brought down a president and led to the Watergate Congress which threw away the victory in Vietnam and solidified the Progressive control of Congress until 1994. Today we are confronted with contempt for the Constitution and the rule of law that makes the Watergate Scandal look like the tempest in a teapot that it actually was. How many people died as a result of the Watergate Scandal = 0. How many have died as a result of the Fast and Furious debacle = at least 200 and still counting including an American law enforcement officer. How did Richard Nixon disrespect, disregard or violate the Constitution in the Watergate Scandal = 0 (although his use of Executive privilege did spark a constitutional crisis). How many times has Barack Obama disrespected, disregarded or violated the Constitution during his time in office = at least three times as documented below by making recess appointments while Congress was still in session, by changing laws through executive orders without recourse to Congress and by refusing to enforce laws.
There is an old saying, “That’s good enough for government work.” This saying comes out of the big government make-work programs of the 1930s and has been used ever since as short hand for “Approximate is close enough,” which might as well be the new national motto. In societies that rob Peter to pay Paul the stage before all the Peters change their names to Paul is typified by government bean counters picking winners and losers. This process discourages producers and encourages non-producers assuring you get less of the former and more of the latter. As an educator I have a belief that if you don’t teach someone to do something right you teach them to do it wrong.
If Congress does not assert its place as a co-equal branch of government, the Imperial Presidency of Barack Obama will continue to usurp power. From recess appointments while Congress is in session to unilaterally changing laws to refusing to enforce the laws of the land this President is fundamentally transforming our system of government. Not through the amendment process, but through a campaign of unconstitutional and therefore illegal actions designed to advance the Progressive agenda and to influence the next election. Whether it is through the money laundering schemes that are government negotiations with public service unions, pork barrel payoffs to political donors, or back-door amnesty this is nothing more than a time-honored Chicago tradition buying votes. Combine this with a campaign to resist any attempt to verify who is voting and the stage is set for an emerging social re-make and elections that would make any managed society proud.
His supporters may call it the Audacity of Hope Campaign, but if it is successful it will be the audacity which crushes any hope of limited government, personal liberty, and economic freedom. The dreams from his father will become the nightmares of our children and grandchildren. With no authority Mr. Obama is attempting to rule by decree. Executive orders have previously been used to direct the Executive Departments how to implement laws. Mr. Obama is using them to legislate, and that is in direct contravention to the separation of powers clearly outlined in the Constitution and are meant by his own admission to circumvent Congress.
President Obama has built a shadow government that parallels and is standing ready to supplant our constitutional government. Barely tipping his hat to the official Cabinet he has appointed more Czars than most of his predecessors and these Czars are not just advisers they are actually tasked with duties that under our traditional American governmental structure have been the responsibility of Cabinet Secretaries. These Czars are not confirmed; they are appointed, and none of them are accountable to anyone except the President. Even though Congress voted to defund his Czars, President Obama has said he will ignore that part of the Budget and keep them anyway. A cult of personality surrounds him typified by a compliant media which fawns over his every action and defends his every transgression.
As if to add icing to the cake the Obama Administration has invoked Executive Privilege to support Attorney General Holder in his refusal to surrender all requested documents in the Fast and Furious Scandal. What national security issues could there be in this matter? If the documents proved that the operation really did start under the Bush administration as Mr. Holder contends does anyone doubt they would have been on the table yesterday? Either the President is attempting to protect his Attorney General, some member of the White House staff or himself. Either way this may eventually provide a real similarity to the Watergate Scandal. Though in this case the cover-up could not be worse than the crime it could lead to enough fallout to make his own supporters leave a sinking ship to avoid the stigma of a failed presidency and a looming constitutional crisis.
In the Benghazi Scandal the memories of 4 dead Americans including our Ambassador the Obama administration first attempted to blame a video. This video wasn’t translated into Arabic until after the attacks that it supposedly inspired. There was mounting violence against Western Diplomats and Western interests in Benghazi before this that was ignored. Then during his recent re-election campaign President Obama re-invented the truth when he said that he labeled it a terrorist action from day one. Yet in Congressional investigations the stonewalling continues to protect the White House and the State department from accepting the blame for what was clearly a massive security collapse. To this day the only one jailed for this deadly failure has been the producer of the erroneously blamed video. Then again as Secretary of State Clinton quipped, "What difference, at this point, does it make?"
In perhaps the most telling evidence for impeachment so far the Speaker of the House has declared that it is meaningless to pass legislation when based upon President Obama’s past practices there is no guarantee that the President will enforce the law. This is a stunning admission. The President is sworn to uphold the Constitution. In the Constitution as the chief executive the President is supposed to enforce and execute the laws. Having reached the point where the Speaker of the House can no longer trust that the President will enforce laws we have reached the place where this is no longer a nation of laws it is a nation of men. This is the opposite of what our Founders said that America should be.
Then there is the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare as it is popularly known. The President seems to believe he can rewrite this law in any way and at any time he chooses without regard to the fact that it was passed by Congress and signed into law. One conservative pundit compares President Obama’s serial re-writes of this law without the benefit of legislation as the actions of a banana republic. While a progressive pundit says that even though he was a supporter of the law these many changes and the blatant polarization of the law by delaying so many of its negative impacts until after the next election make it nearly impossible to defend.
The assaults upon the rule of law come on a daily basis. As if he is almost trying to add fuel to the flames or to rub his actions in everyone’s face President Obama said to French President Hollande as they strolled through the grounds of Jefferson’s Monticello "That's the good thing as a President, I can do whatever I want"
If this slide into tyranny is not stopped it will continue. If it is not protested it will be accepted. I know there are not enough Senators to convict. As shown in the Clinton impeachment trial the Democrats vote as a block and the Progressive Republicans join with them ensuring there would be no conviction no matter what the charge. If these blatant attacks upon the checks and balances are not punished, at least by the shame and reproach of an Impeachment Resolution, they are being silently condoned. Speaker Boehner stand up and lead the House! Don’t just make a speech; present a case. Don’t just give us a photo op; give us a fighting chance to save this great experiment in human freedom.
If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything. America it is time to stand up to this Southside Chicago bully. We need to let him know he can’t have our lunch money anymore, and he can’t subvert our Republic either at least not without us protesting and using every legal means available to stop him and preserve limited government.
We, the lovers of freedom and the supporters of limited government cannot merely wait the clock out on the Obama presidency. After winning a second term on a campaign based upon class warfare and the redistribution of wealth he and his statist backers act as if they have won a mandate for more of these unconstitutional power-grabs. An oligarchy of the perpetually re-elected veneered over a permanent nomenclature of federal bureaucrats easily falls in line behind a complacent and complicit media to cheer the new order as the soft tyranny of the central planners tell us what is best for us and then forces us to say thank you.
Protest the lawless Progressive counter-revolution! Contact you Representative and demand an impeachment hearing to investigate President Obama for the High Crimes of subverting the Constitution. He should be investigated for:
- Making recess appointments while Congress was still in session
- Ignoring his obligation to enforce the laws of the land in the areas of Immigration and the Defense of Marriage Act
- Incorrectly using a claim of Executive Privilege to cover up reckless and possibly criminal activity in the Fast and Furious scandal.
- Repeatedly changing the Affordable Care Act without the approval of Congress
- Using Executive Orders to circumvent the clearly spoken will of Congress as in the imposition of the Dream Act and Cap-N-Trade regulations after both of these were defeated in Congress
Act today! Contact your Representative and let them know patriotic Americans want this tyranny ended and limited government restored.
Keep the faith. Keep the peace. We shall overcome.
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2014 Contact Dr. Owens drrobertowens@hotmail.com Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
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