However, I have come across a dangerous trend in the fight for freedom in America and the examples I keep finding are usually associated with Democratic politicians. I have looked for similar behavior from Republicans but it is either not out there in the same intensity or the Republicans are better at covering their tracks.
The basic and troubling conclusion I come to is that these Democrats appear to think that they are above the rule of law in this country. The United States has existed and thrived over the past two hundred years plus because we have established institutions of laws and processes that help protect our freedom from tyranny and the arbitrary actions of a small group of leaders. Without rule of law, we are subject to the whims and prejudices of whoever happens to end up in the ruling class.
Consider the following examples that support this conclusion:
1) If an ordinary American, i.e. a non-politician, was walking down the street and as a result of being asked a question, verbally and then physically assaulted the question poser, that American would likely be arrested for assault. Apparently, Congressman Bob Etheridge in 2010 felt that he was above that kind of treatment. When approached in a non-violent and non-threatening way by a young journalist, he verbally berated the young man and then grabbed him physically, aggressively holding the journalist against his will as he continued his verbal assault.
If the Congressman did not want to answer the question, he could have ignored the journalist. If he did not want to answer the question at that point in time, he could have had the journalist call his office at a later time. He did not have to get physical and verbally abusive. This is usually a clear cut case of assault but I guess that law does no apply to Democratic Congressmen and women. The YouTube video of the encounter is below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDukm1ITj7M
2) Most Americans understand that the guiding principle of law in this country is the U.S. Constitution. The founding fathers were careful to put restrictions on government and the politicians that run government in order to protect the interests and freedom of all Americans. That is why we have probably been the freest country on earth since the nation was founded.
However, Democratic Congressman Peter Stark apparently never go the memo. At one of his town hall meetings last year, he made the incredible comment that that the Federal government could pretty much do anything it wanted to do. Whoa! This attitude does not seem to jive with the concepts of limited power laid out in the U.S. Constitution.
What he was really saying is that the political class can pretty much do anything it wants. How sad that this person is actually a sitting member of the U.S. Congress. If he thinks that he and the four hundred or so others in the U.S. Congress can do anything they want without restrictions, then we as a democracy are finished. The encounter with a voter where he stated this unbelievable statement is on the YouTube video below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1-eBz8hyoE
3) But it is not just Washington politicians that seem driving to destroy the rule of law. In the Midwest, Indiana state senate Democrats and Wisconsin state senate Democrats have fled their state legislatures in a first time event to usurp democracy by not reporting to work.
Used to be in this country that you ran for office, campaigned, and then served in the legislature by protecting the rights and interests of your constituents through debating the facts and issues. After debating the facts and issues, you would then vote on legislation that you may or may not favor and which may or may not pass. Rather than honor this time tested, legal approach, these cowards in both states have fled their states in order to stop the process which is set in law.
If they are upset with what is being proposed, they have two legitimate options. One, they should stay in the state and in legislative session and fight for what they think is right, like legislators have done for over two hundred years. If they lose the debate, so be it, it is called democracy. Second, if they are that upset with what is being proposed, they should have done a better job in the elections. The people have spoken via the ballot box, these Democrats should have acted like adults and accepted the situation.
What if Congressional Republicans had fled to Canada to avoid the passage of Obama Care? You would have heard the Democrats whining 24 hours a day. The rule of laws is simple: you have elections, the election winners represent the voters, and you maturely go about doing the best job for your voters even if you are in a losing battle. You do not regress to kindergarten mode, stamp your feet, and run out of the state. The rule of law is being violated.
If allowed to happen these two times with these Democrats, you know the Republicans will do the same thing when presented the opportunity and now we have chaos. No laws get passed, no issues get addressed because we have allowed these Democrats to behave in such a way that they undermine the rule of law.
4) Last year, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder was testifying before a Senate committee on immigration issues. During that session, Holder stated that he and the Justice Department would likely file a law suit to stop the implementation of the recently passed immigration law in the state of Arizona.
When a Senator asked if the Attorney General had actually read the ten page or so Arizona law, he astonishingly admitted that he had not taken the time to read it. Unbelievable, the top law enforcement official in the country is about to file suit over a document that he had not even read. Talk about a blatant disregard for the rule of law, let's just sue over something that I have not even taken the time to review.
5) Which brings us to the biggest offender of them all, President Obama. If the President of the United States will not support the rule of law and Constitutional processes, then who is to say anyone else in the whole country will respect and follow our laws and traditions of governing. Consider:
- Despite having majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate in his first two years in office, he was unable to even bring his Cap and Trade energy legislation to the floor of either house, never mind getting it debated or passed. It did not even get in the door. Given that the Democrats were in charge everywhere, it should give you an indication of how horrid and inane his whole cap and trade bill was.
Now that the Republicans rule the House, virtually assuring that his cap and trade bill will never make it to the House floor, he has decided to just bypass the entire Congressional process and start implementing his priorities via the Environment Protection Agency. Forget about debate and compromise and facts, he just wants his way and will do whatever he wants to do get it implemented.
This is not how the process is supposed to work. Congress puts the legislation together after debating the issues and facts and then passes it to the President to sign into law. End running Congress is the same as end running both the Constitution and the rule of law.
- Bloomberg online reported on February 3, 2011 that a Federal judge ruled that the Obama administration was in contempt of court when it continued its moratorium on deep water oil drilling despite the moratorium having been already struck down in court. The court found that the Interior Department acted in "determined disregard" in the matter.
The judge found that the administration had rescinded the original ban that the court had thrown out and had instituted a second ban that was really nothing much different then the first, illegal ban. The judge in the case ruled that second ban still violated Federal law and that "such dismissive conduct... provide this court with clear and convincing evidence of the government's contempt." Very strong words of disgust with the Obama administration. The judge also made the Federal government pay the legal fees of those that brought the suit.
It is looking like typical kindergarten stuff again here, similar to the immature behavior of the state senators discussed above. The administration got its hand slapped once, did not like or respect the judge's decisions and in a contemptible way, just did the same act again. There is a reason we have a judicial system, it is to keep politicians like this from violating rights and laws that are on the books. Apparently, this tradition of judicial responsibility is lost on the Obama administration.
- And most recently, and most egregiously, the President unilaterally announced that his administration and his Justice Department will no longer enforce an existing, fifteen year old Federal law, the so-called DOMA or Defense of Marriage Act. This legislation was signed into law by Democratic President Bill Clinton in the mid-1990s and it allowed states to not recognize gay marriages performed and valid in other states and it defined marriage as a union of a man and woman.
No matter where you stand on this issue, the fact is it is the law of the land. The President, via the Justice Department, has the duty and responsibility to enforce the law of the land, no matter how distasteful. The law has not been overturned by any court, up to and including the Supreme Court. It is Obama's legal duty to enforce it.
However, according to Attorney General Eric Holder, "The President has also concluded that Section 3 of DOMA, as applied to legally married same-sex couples, fails to meet the standard and is therefore unconstitutional. Given that conclusion, the President has instructed the Department (of Justice) not to defend the statue in such cases."
Unbelievable, the President has no standing, under the Constitution, to decide what is and what is not Constitutional. It is called the rule of law. This law is legit, it is on the books, and he has no right or power to disobey it. According to the Constitution, only the Supreme Court can make the decision of what is and what is not Constitutional.
When the President decides that he is all knowing and all powerful, then the cause of liberty and freedom, the system of constitutional checks and balances, our whole way of living together as a nation, is severely undermined. I disagree with the whole concept of DOMA but I believe that the President's brazen behavior in this matter is an impeachable offense.
Now before my liberal and Democratic friends and family members jump down my throat, consider what could happen if we allow Obama to get away with this disregard for our rules and laws. Does that mean that:
- President Palin can decide that abortion clinic bombings are no longer a felony?
- President Huckabee can decide that Roe vs. Wade was merely a suggestion and that he can declare it unconstitutional?
- President Gingrich can decide that the EPA really serves no purpose and can be disbanded without Congressional or judicial review?
Even if what Obama did is not an impeachable offense, the reason he is doing this is just as despicable. DOMA has been in place for about fifteen years. It is not new. If he felt is was unconstitutional then he should have voided it the first day in office, the law has not changed since then.
However, what has changed is that we are that much closer to the 2012 election cycle. This is either a pompous act by an ego driven President who thinks he is above the law or just a typical Chicago politician that misuses the power of government to keep himself elected or both. In any case, his actions, and the actions of the other Democrats listed above, undercut the concept of a liberty based government that rules the land under carefully crafted institutions and processes.
Once those time tested processes and institutions are undermined, then as a nation we are nothing more than Libya, Egypt, Russia and Venezuela because without the Constitution and all that it supports, the only thing left is tyranny.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at http://www.loathemygovernment.com/. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom:
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment
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