Saturday, January 9, 2010

Political Shenanigans, Like Executive Orders, Can Mean a DECISIVE Change in Direction for USA

Shenanigans! That's a word used by then Senator Obama on the campaign trail when he accused the opposition of trying to impose their own political "rules of game". Now, this NOT to say that both sides of the political aisle don't employ their own brand of shenanigans; after all, that IS politics! But as it has been revealed since January 20, 2009 we have seen shenanigans that have been unprecedented in American History under this administration. And our Commander in Chief - commands the game of shenanigans.

Does ANYONE have any idea how many executive orders have been signed by our current president? The president does not have explicitly stated constitutional authority for executive orders, however, there is a vague statement regarding "executive power" found in Article II, Section 1, Clause 1 of the Constitution, and could be corroborated by the statement "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed" made in Article II, Section 3, Clause 4. Regardless, US presidents have used these Constitutional "reasonings" for assuming the authority to issue their executive orders while declaring these orders to be a part of the President's sworn duties. Humbug! (Sorry, still in the holiday frame of mind, I guess!)

There are approximately 38 executive orders (not counting executive orders WITHIN those executive orders) that Obama has implemented in just under one year in office. If you are interested to know the scope of their impact, here they are from the National Archives website http://tinyurl.com/yedxj4j.

As you probably would expect, critics have suspected presidents, and particularly the current one, of abusing their use of executive orders to make laws without Congressional approval, which is our national check and balance system -- if not actually MAKING laws through the executive order, and of moving existing laws further away from their original intent or mandates.

But I'm not going to try to convince you of how biased toward the left's agenda President Obama's executive orders are. I will let you take a look at them and make a determination for yourself. One thing I would challenge you to do is examine how close to center - which is what reflects the views of the majority of Americans - these executive orders fall politically in their scope of political perspective. What concerns me is that this President's executive orders are an insidious way for the liberal agenda, particularly the ideals of the far left, to be implemented and to become common place in our country without the benefit of representation of or input from the citizens. You and I do not have ANY say when it comes to these executive orders - and particularly insidious are the ones that change the way our laws will be interpreted and/or implemented going forward.

When I was thinking about this topic in light of the vacations Obama has taken in his first year, I would have to say that he probably IS tired.... tired from remaining on the campaign trail since very early in 2007, tired from running around the globe making his apologies for his perceived "America's evils", tired from traveling to accept awards that he really has not earned, tired from spending the trillions upon trillions of dollars that our nation DOES NOT HAVE or WILL NOT HAVE for the next several generations (unless we print worthless paper!), tired from signing executive orders that implement many policies that should be put before the public prior to implementation.

This year, however, concerned people from both sides of the political aisle, who see that things aren't what they thought they would be under this president, and those who are attending the tea parties who are fed up with the political parallels that exists in the two parties, will have a chance to make a profound statement with the mid-term elections. I suspect that it's not going to be a simple swing back toward the right by just putting Republicans in office. Rather, I believe we may see, not a new party per se, but more of a vote for the individual candidate's ideals. those which reflect the founding principles of this country. And I pray that we see the thing that we have all been clamoring for come about by 2012 -- term limits for our national representatives. Term limits could be the best protection for the ideals and values that most Americans hold dear.

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