How strong is our republic? Could it ever become a banana republic, with a dictaor ruling instead of governing, guided by the framework of laws and unhindered by checks and balances (like Chavez in Venezuela)? I have started to think that possibility is not as remote as we all once thought. A few examples- 1. The Constitution says war must be declared by Congress. Over the last 60 years, that power has been surrendered to the executive branch. Sure, Congress can starve a war's funding, but that leads to a qui pro quo negotiation, rather than a real check. How much better would politics be now if the Iraq war had to stand up to an up-down vote in congress? 2. The GM/Chrysler bankrupcies. The executive branch decided to take the bankrupcy away from the courts, and the secured creditors found out that their debt was not secured after all. They could have tried to fight that in the courts, but did they really want to take on the executive branch, with an unlimited budget to investigate and campaign publicly against them (and a willingness to do so)? 3. Obamacare and businesses. First McDonalds gets an exemption by executive fiat. Now Boeing does. Is this the system we want, where we have rules that apply to all but those that are exempted by the executive branch? Do any of these companies dare to buck the will of the president? This is not a left/right thing with me. I think many supporters of the president would be outraged if a GOP president tried to exercise power as shown in examples 2 and 3. What do y'all think? Overreacting?
The Central State (Executive Branch) has grown more powerful since inception with few points of reversal. The points in your post are spot on.
Isn't it obvious that this is Obama's plan? Certainly, an argument might be made that other presidents dabbled in this, but Mr Obama makes it pretty obvious what he wants to do, doesn't he? I mean, if you forget what he says after "Let me be clear" and simply observe his actions. He has taken the actions you describe, plus he's doing his best to divide the country along class (watch out for those "evil" rich folks) and ideological boundaries. One day he says he wants to do X in a bi-partisan way, but then the next day he's back out on the campaign trail spewing vitriol across the aisle.
I agree the Executive has grown too powerful. Notwithstanding how pathetic Congress is, they need greater influence. I do not agree, at all, that a psuedo dictatorship is the ambition of Obama. That is just plain paranoid goofiness. Note, for example, that the Govt is trying to get out of GM. Note how quickly Obama gave up on a government payor. Note how much Obama has compromised with banks and insurance companies. Obama is a pragmatist more than a idealogue (much less extremist).
Everybody works for the Fed; America's industry is the creation and laundering of debt at a rate greater than the market's ability to revalue the manufactured currency.
We should not have career politicians. Most of the yahoo's up on the hill are so out of touch with Main Street, and the general population it's laughable.
