“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.”
Presidential Oath of Office
US Constitution – Article II, Section 1
The President, all members of Congress and Supreme Court justices swear, or affirm, that they will support and defend the Constitution of the United States … a document specifically designed to limit the powers of the Federal Government.
Among his duties, the president “shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed” (Article II, Section 3). Nowhere is the president given any implicit or explicit power to either ignore enforcing the laws of the land nor to unilaterally change laws without the formal consent of Congress.
Yet, the president has repeatedly taken unilateral actions contrary to the Constitutional principles he swore to uphold, threatening to steer our country on an uncharted, unconstitutional path that can fundamentally change the character of our Republic … and not for the better.
While there is no constitutional provision that explicitly permits ”executive orders”, issued since Washington’s Administration, historically they were intended enable the president to direct his Executive Departments to carry out their delegated duties as well as the normal operations of the federal government pursuant to legally enacted laws. Increasingly, however, presidents are using executive orders to make, or materially alter the original mandate of laws without Congressional approval.
During the past five years, President Obama has unilaterally:
· Made more than 20 substantive changes to the Affordable Care Act contrary to its specific language ;
· Voided contract law, forcing financial institutions to tear up and refinance valid mortgage contracts;
· Effectively granted de facto green cards to illegal immigrants, going well beyond his decision to defer deportation in certain cases;
· Appointed three members of the National Labor Relations Board, as well as the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, during what he considered to be a Senate recess, although the Senate was still holding “pro forma” sessions every three days; an action the D.C. Circuit held to be unconstitutional; and
· Failed to assist Congress with transparent investigations, including providing requested documents and witnesses related to Fast and Furious, the Benghazi debacle, and the IRS’ political profiling of conservative tax-exempt groups.
Meanwhile, Congress is equally culpable:
· Delegating its power to “declare war” (Article I, Section 8); when there is no language in the Constitution permitting the delegation of such enumerated powers, resulting in over 100,000 American military deaths in undeclared wars since 1945;
· Failing to act and compromise where necessary in a responsible manner to address such as vital issues as entitlement and tax reforms, immigration; the Bowles-Simpson deficit reduction proposals and the ballooning federal debt, to name few;
· Wasting time posturing over any number of social issues on which the American public is ambivalent or not in agreement with Congress;
· Establishing rules in the House and Senate which give near dictatorial powers to the majority leadership, effectively emasculating the ability of members of the minority party to effectively represent their respective constituencies, thereby denying their constituents the equal protection guaranteed under the 14th Amendment.
Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has severely restricted so-called “congressional standing,” creating a presumption against allowing members of Congress to sue the president merely because he fails to faithfully execute its laws. If courts can’t be counted on to check the president, in today’s hyper-partisan climate, Congress is impotent to enact legislation to force the president to do so.
Not only is a failure on the part of those individuals to act pursuant to their oaths of office and only within the bounds permitted under the Constitution legitimate grounds for their removal from office, such actions are a clear and present danger to our fundamental and guaranteed liberties!
Our elected and appointed officials need to be reminded that their tenure, re-elections and the preservations of their political party’s power are of little, if any importance to the survival of our Republic or the continued guaranties of the liberties of its people … and that ”Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends …”
