Unsure What Ruling by Presidential Decree Means?
If you're not sure what it means to rule by decree, then Thomas Sowell’s column today at Investor’s Business Daily is absolutely a 'must read.' He begins:
“There are some very serious issues at stake in this year's election — so many that some people may not be able to see the forest for the trees. Individual issues are the trees, but the forest is the future of America as we have known it.
“The America that has flourished for more than two centuries is being quietly but steadily dismantled by the Obama administration, during the process of dealing with particular issues.
“For example, the merits or demerits of President Obama's recent executive order, suspending legal liability for young people who are here illegally, presumably as a result of being brought here as children by their parents, can be debated pro and con. But such a debate overlooks the much more fundamental undermining of the whole American system of constitutional government.”
As Dr. Sowell explains, “No president of the United States is authorized to repeal parts of legislation passed by Congress. He may veto the whole legislation, but then Congress can override his veto if they have enough votes. Nevertheless, every president takes an oath to faithfully execute the laws that have been passed and sustained — not just the ones he happens to agree with.”
In addition to his immigration ruling, the President has also waived provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act as well as the work requirements of welfare reform, according to Sowell. He concludes the column by writing:
“John Stuart Mill explained the dangers in that kind of government long ago: "A government with all this mass of favours to give or to withhold, however free in name, wields a power of bribery scarcely surpassed by an avowed autocracy, rendering it master of the elections in almost any circumstances but those of rare and extraordinary public excitement."
“If Obama gets re-elected, he knows that he need no longer worry about what the voters think about anything he does. Never having to face them again, he can take his arbitrary rule by decree as far as he wants. He may be challenged in the courts but, if he gets just one more Supreme Court appointment, he can pick someone who will rubber stamp anything he does and give him a 5-to-4 majority.”
If you expect to vote for president in November, this column is a ‘must read.’ If you haven’t previously read anything by Dr. Thomas Sowell, you’ll quickly understand why Kyle Stone, in a column about the ten best conservative columnists at PJ Media's blog, describes Sowell as “eminently logical.” And you will certainly understand why our country's future is at risk.