By Bill Wilson – Barack Obama is the unilateral president. He does what he wants, when he wants, and Congress — and the people — be damned.
The examples are too numerous to ignore. Recently, Obama ordered an attack on Libya without so much as consulting with members of Congress. This prompted a letter from House Speaker John Boehner highlighting that fact, and saying, “It is my hope that you will provide the American people and Congress a clear and robust assessment of the scope, objective, and purpose of our mission in Libya and how it will be achieved.”
Boehner noted that “A United Nations Security Council resolution does not substitute for a U.S. political and military strategy.” And it certainly does not substitute an explicit authorization from Congress, which is the ideal method of engaging a new military operation in a country not previously under attack.
But really, the Obama attack on Libya is hardly surprising, and it reflects a wider concern that this Administration simply does not care what Congress, the people’s representatives, think. And for that matter, what the American people think about Obama’s policies.
In fact, the attack is just the latest in a long line of arbitrary actions by a man who is seemingly above the law.
For example, the Administration recently announced its intention to no longer defend the Defense of Marriage Act, even though it is the duly-enacted law of the land, and Obama is required to enforce it. In fact, Obama’s Justice Department simply declared the law to be unconstitutional, even though it lacks the power to do so.
However one feels about the Defense of Marriage Act or same-sex marriage for that matter, Obama’s willingness to simply ignore the law of the land is troubling.
There’s more. When a federal judge in Louisiana struck down Obama’s moratorium on Gulf oil drilling, Obama defied it and just reissued the same moratorium. The judge eventually found Obama in contempt of court for his refusal to comply with the ruling.
Then, when another federal judge, this time in Florida, struck down the entirety of ObamaCare as unconstitutional, the Obama Justice Department continued to implement regulations pursuant to the law. It waited weeks before finally asking for a “clarification” of the judge’s clear-as-day ruling, when Judge Roger Vinson stayed his decision in an act of judicial charity.
Of course, one should also consider the Environmental Protection Agency’s carbon endangerment finding, an arbitrary dictate that carbon dioxide — a natural biological gas necessary for the existence of life itself — was a “harmful pollutant” covered under the Clean Air Act.
And then there’s the National Labor Relations Board and the National Mediation Board implementing administrative rules changes to make unionizing that much easier for labor bosses.
All of these changes and decisions have occurred without any change in law by Congress.
And then, the things that Congress did implement, under the Pelosi-Reid rein of 2007-2010, put in more opportunities for arbitrary administrative dictates occurring from on-high. For example, under ObamaCare, the individual mandate will allow faceless bureaucrats to funnel tens of millions of Americans from their private health plans into government-run health plans.
The Dodd-Frank financial takeover created a permanent bailout-takeover fund, giving the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation nearly limitless powers to levy assessments on bank holding and insurance companies, and to seize, liquidate, and redistribute whatever companies the government deems to be “systemically risky”.
All of this has occurred under Obama’s arrogant watch. With a willful disregard of the Constitution, the legislative process, and indeed, the consent of the governed. It is the administrative state. Answerable to no one.
Bill Wilson is the President of Americans for Limited Government. You can follow Bill on Twitter at @BillWilsonALG.
