Executive Order... or Decree

I was speaking to a friend today about the state of affairs of our government in general, and the state of the presidency in particular. We have a strong government, not the agencies and departments that deal with day-to-day issues, but rather, the people of this country who are the government. But we have a weak presidency, due to the chaos of our current occupant.

I make the distinctions of the differences between the people and our employees, those who work to complete the tasks necessary for an effective government. Remember that the government exists with the consent of the governed, not that the governed exists with the consent of the government.

That would be dictatorship.

The president exists as a constitutional officer to supervise the employees of the people and to make certain that the laws propagated by the people's representatives, our elected Members of Congress, are enforced, not that he makes decrees like a lord of the manor. We are not serfs. Instead, WE are in charge.

To be fair, the power and the office of the presidency has grown since the end of WWI, when the Congress began to hand over more of its responsibilities to a more powerful central government, which exists in the Office of the President. In so doing, agencies and departments were created to deal with specific issues, like energy, the environment, Homeland Security, education, and other imbedded divisions of the executive branch.

Since 1950, with the exception of President Carter, we have had fairly strong presidents, who understood the power of the office, their responsibilities to the people under the Constitution and were able to govern effectively. Now, we have a man who never held a leadership position, either in or out of government at any level, a chairmanship or even a junior or middle management role in any job he may have held.

And it shows.

Since taking office in 2009, President Obama has issued more executive orders than any other President, including one last week, which essentially violates a law he so vigorously fought for in his first term, and up until now has been  his legacy moment in an otherwise dismal and failing presidency. Now, by delaying full implementation of Obamacare, even he admits that this law will be doomed to failure. But my point is, his wild and reckless abuse of a privilege granted to him by the constitution and presidential custom, not to circumvent the Congress, but instead exercise his executive power to make decisions when the Congress is unavailable, is being used and abused like a dictator making decrees. He does this because he doesn't know how to lead. And now, finally, the people have had enough.

President Obama has approximately 3 1/2 years to complete his presidency. Knowing that the Congress, as presently constituted, would never pass an amendment to overturn the 22nd Amendment, which concerns presidential term limits, he would be wise not to issue an executive order decreeing such an event.

For sure, impeachment, and possibly, jail would be his destiny. Certainly, he wouldn't want that for an ignominious legacy, would he?