Posted by
Screwtape on Wednesday, November 12, 2008 12:52:39 PM
The question at hand is how much can Obama get away with as far as executive orders (EO) are concerned? I won’t debate whether Obama will abuse EOs as it is my opinion that most modern (post WWII at least) presidents have abused them.
''Stroke of the pen. Law of the land. Kind of cool.'' Paul Begala, Clinton administration, 1998
"We've switched the rules of the game. We're not trying to do anything legislatively." Bruce Babbitt, Clinton administration, 1999
What have presidents done (or tried to do with just an EO? Designated 70 million acres million acres as national monuments, making them essentially inaccessible for public use: waged war on other countries: seized control of US steel mills: amended, changed or over-ruled Civil Service rules: banned offshore oil drilling: created the EPA: limited stem cell research: made presidential pardons: effected eminent domain: sent Americans to interment camps: restricted public access to records.
Now, what EOs might Obama make? He has already said that he wants to close Gitmo and ship the inmates to the States for trial and to block expansion of oil drilling in Utah. He will most likely re-enact the ban on offshore drilling as well as lift the limits on stem cell research. Support foreign family planning groups (i.e., abortion). Hamstring our military and intelligence agencies by forcing compliance with the Army Field Manual in all agencies. Expand/strengthen the EPA and/or create more agencies to control energy use. Weaken citizen’s defense against eminent domain. Expand surveillence of civilians domestically. Inter innocents. Block access to his historic records. Seize control of entire industries. Enforce open ballots during union votes (not sure about this)?
These really just scratch the surface of what Obama could do as president, just let your imagination run wild with this. And as a Congressional super-majority is needed to override an OE, plus with the SCOTUS being in balance, it is very unlikely that any OE Obama makes will be overridden. ‘Stroke of the pen. Law of the land. Kinda cool.’
This brings up the question of what can we do to limit the damage Obama could do via OEs? Frankly, not much in the short term. But we can do some things. We can correspondent with our congressmen and urge them to fight against any activist judicial appointments, especially in the SCOTUS (ie, grow a set of gonads and a spine). We can write to the RNC and demand that they appoint a strong conservative as chairperson. We can support and vote for CONSERVATIVES during the next election cycle.
There are some things that we can do outside the Republican Party (indeed, if the Reps refuse to move back to conservatism, let the damned party die). Now, I am strictly a rule-of-law type of guy and I will wait to see how He governs just to keep it fair, but as soon as He shows His true strips I intend to start making all of the noise that I can, legally. My truck will be plastered with anti-O bumper stickers, I am now searching for anti-O t-shirts (I may even make my own, silk-screening isn’t hard), I will have anti-O signs in my yard and I will send frequent nasty-grams to The One. All of this will be to instigate action against me by O’s thugs. While as a lone person I am no threat to Him and would be vulnerable but there is strength in numbers and I urge everyone to become an activist. And if push comes to shove (I pray that it doesn’t) I will remember the words of the G-Man, "Now if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms comes to disarm you and they are bearing arms, resist them with arms. Go for a head shot; they're going to be wearing bulletproof vests. ... Kill the sons of bitches."
Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape