TYRANNY, THY NAME IS.....

 

On December 3rd, 2013 the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Representative Bob Goodlatte of Virginia,  conducted a hearing regarding Presidential powers and the Constitution.   In his opening statement he enumerated several actions taken by President Obama which have raised serious constitutional concerns.   Following are some excerpts from that opening statement: 

"Our system of government is a tripartite one with each branch having certain defined functions delegated to it by the Constitution.  The President is charged with executing the law, the Congress with writing the laws and the Judiciary with interpreting them.   The Obama administration, however, has ignored the Constitution's carefully balanced separation of powers and unilaterally granted itself the extra constitutional authority to amend the laws and to waive or suspend their enforcement...."
".....from Obamacare to immigration the administration is picking and choosing which laws to enforce but the Constitution does not confer upon the President the executive authority to disregard the separation of powers by unilaterally waiving, suspending or revising the laws.  It is a bedrock principle of  Constitutional law that the President must faithfully execute acts of Congress.  The President cannot refuse to enforce a law simply because he dislikes it." 

".....the Obama administration though has been equally assertive in the realm of domestic policy routinely making end runs around Congress through broad claims of prosecutorial  discretion and regulatory actions that push Executive power beyond all limits." 

".....in place of the checks and balances established by the Constitution President Obama has proclaimed, "I refuse to take no for an answer" and that, "where Congress won't act I will"....."

In addition to the above excerpts, Congressman Goodlatte also quoted from English historian Edward Gibbon's observation regarding the fall of the Roman Empire:  "The principles of a free constitution are irrevocably lost when the legislative power is dominated by the executive."

and from James Madison's warning centuries ago in Federalist Papers #47:  "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny".  

Four gentlemen testifying before the Committee were:  Professor Jonathan Turley, George Washington University, Public Interest Law; Professor Nicholas Rosenkranz, Georgetown University Law School; Simon Lazarus III, Sr. Counsel Constitutional Accountability Center and Michael Cannon, Director Cato Institute Health Policy Studies. 

Interesting statements from several of the witnesses follow:

Professor Turley testified that he agreed with the President's policies and previously voted for him but was very forthright in his opinion: 
 
".....more important how you do something than what you do and the reason this is such an important hearing is that the bedrock of our Constitution remains the separation of powers.....it is really a protection of liberty.....I believe the President has crossed the Constitutional line in some of these areas.....if a President can unilaterally change the meaning of laws in substantial ways or refuse to enforce them, it takes offline that very thing that stabilizes our system..."

"Congress is the thumping heart of the system."

"The danger is quite severe; the problem with what the President is doing is that he's not simply posing a danger to the Constitutional system, he's becoming the very danger the Constitution was designed to avoid."

"Congress is not only being circumvented but it's also being denied the ability to enforce its inherent powers.....the President is outside the line but it has to go in front of a court and that court has to grant review and that's where we have the most serious Constitutional crisis I've viewed in my lifetime and that is, this body is becoming less and less relevant."

Professor Rosenkranz pointing out the keyword "shall": 
"The 'take care clause' is not a grant of power but one of duty....."

Mr. Cannon:
"If the people come to believe that the government is no longer constrained by the laws then they will conclude that neither are they."

Excerpted from www.constitution.org/

Q:  What is tyranny?
A:  Tyranny is usually thought of as cruel and oppressive and it often is but the original definition of the term was rule by persons who lack legitimacy, whether they be malign or benevolent. 

Q:  How can we know it?
A:  In any of the following ways -
      * Control of public information and opinion
      * Usurpation of undelegated powers 
      * Militarization of law enforcement
      * Infiltration and subversion of citizen groups that could be forces for reform
      * Suppression of investigators and whistleblowers
      * Use of the law for competition suppression
      * Subversion of internal checks and balances
      * Increasing dependency of the people on government
      * Use of staged events to produce popular support
      *Political correctness

Any of this strike a familiar chord?  It should because Tyranny currently occupies our White House and we are seeing this usurpation occur more often every day.  We cannot just sit idly by and let it continue - we do have Constitutional remedies but we must be united.

Note:  Everyone should take the opportunity to watch this very important hearing and this can be done via computer by logging on to CSpan and searching for:  Presidential Powers and the Constitution Judiciary Committee Hearing Dec. 3. 2013