RSSPresident Obama Violates Separation of Powers
July 5, 2012
Peter Shaw - See all 8 of my articles
Whatever possessed the Framers of the US Constitution to separate the powers of government? How does anything get done with a committee of hundreds, a committee of one hundred and a president? Obviously a majority of the power must rest in one department, one partition, one branch of government so that the people’s work is done. That branch of government is today known as the Legislative branch. For a better understanding of the intended nature of our government I try to refer to the Federalist Papers.
Separation of powers is best described by Federalist Paper 51. The powers of the three branches are separate but not all branches are created equal.
In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates. The remedy for this inconveniency is to divide the legislature into different branches; and to render them, by different modes of election and different principles of action, as little connected with each other as the nature of their common functions and their common dependence on the society will admit.
We see that the Legislature is intended to be the greater of the three branches. It is further subdivided into the House and Senate with the House the greater of the two. The House is greater since it truly represents the people where the number of representatives is derived from the enumeration of the population. The House must be the origin of all appropriations bills, the House has the authority to impeach, etc…
But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others.
Here we see from Federalist Paper 51 that though the Executive and Judicial branch are the lesser of the two, they have powers to keep each other in check. Overall, the people keep all three in check.
A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government…
The Press has been described as the fourth branch of government but truly the fourth branch is the People. An informed people is an energetic check on the government.
Today President Obama has breached our republican form of government and garnered more power unto the Executive Branch than ever intended by the Framers. Executive Orders apply to the executive branch only but the uninformed people of America seem to think it’s the law of the land. Obama coined another catchphrase for his power grab calling it “We Can’t Wait”.
If Congress refuses to act, I’ve said that I’ll continue to do everything in my power to act without them.
– President Obama
Unfortunately President Obama has gone beyond his Constitutional powers. Obama works in a region transcending the Constitution and within the permissive will of Congress. Obama has restored funding to the terrorist organization Hamas despite federal law. Obama has restored funding to Egypt despite federal law. Obama has reduced deportations of illegal immigrants despite federal law. President Obama funds his czars despite being defunded by Congress. Obama creates czars despite no Senatorial consent as required by the US Constitution.
This unnatural power imbalance should result in the House restoring the proper Constitutional balance of power and impeach President Obama. Congress has failed to act and now it is incumbent upon the people to restore the republic, to be the check on the government that Federalist Paper 51 describes. We must hold Congress accountable for their inaction and unwillingness to defend their Constitutional powers. We the People must fire President Obama for his unilateral unconstitutional rogue behavior or it is the end of a republic.
Jul 05, 2012 @ 12:19:54
Pete, I am glad that you pointed out that the congress is responsible for allowing the President to keep taking power that is not granted to him by the constitution. All three branches of our government continuously try to expand their own power (judges creating law by fiat, congress inventing a crime called contempt of congress, and the president choosing the laws or orders to be enforced). The congress should have checked the Presidents efforts, but did not. We as the people do need to take control, both of congress and the executive. If we abrogate our responsibilities as congress has, we have no one to blame but ourselves if we do not like what is happening in our government.
Jul 06, 2012 @ 08:08:01
Love the article Pete. I agree, fired!