Many of us on the Right breathed a sigh of relief when we saw that the majority of the US House swung to the Republicans. While not booting Reid out of the Majority Leader’s seat in the Senate, the gains by Republicans there got an approving nod as well. Why not? America expressed its political will, showed its disdain for Progressive policies, and changed its political leadership.
We all thought: good, all these crazy laws and policies will now be stopped. The Republic is safe. Boy, are we all wrong!
Nothing less than the Rule of Law and the fundamental philosophy undergirding our Republic are now under attack by the Obama Administration. Given the failure of the Democrat controlled House and Senate, and with the Obama Presidency, the Progressives are resorting to put into effect what was their main goal all along:
The Administrative State
This has been the la creme de la creme of all Progressive fantasies – an ordered society, not popularly governed by The Rule of Law and the full expression of Constitutional values set by the Founding Fathers, but by the opposite: The Rule of Man via bureaucratic technocrats, well versed in the science of ruling and society, that would rule by administrative fiat.
As I wrote in an email this morning, look at what the Executive Branch is doing all on its own:
Just look at the tyranny that the Feds are doing via the Administrative State:
- HHS Secretary saying, with no authority to do, that a 10% rise (or more) in premiums announced by some insurance companies (some in reaction to Obamacare law and regulations she is penning) is "unreasonable" with no single legal basis on which to state that. Further, she has administratively put back in the "Death Panels" that were removed from the Obamacare law because of the public furor.
- The EPA is "tailoring" current law to fit its agenda of regulating anything economic under the guise of global warming (even as the actual law gives them no leeway to do it).
- The FCC, against the expressed will over 300 members of Congress and with no legal basis, and having already been rebuffed by the Court system, has decided on it’s own that it can regulate the Internet simply on its own say so.
- The Dept. of Agriculture, via Michelle Obama’s "we can’t leave it to the parents" nanny food law, can determine if Moms can send cupcakes for a school bake sale. True, a law was passed, but much of the actual effects of the law will be determined by bureaucrats and not legislators
- The Interior Department, with no input from Congress, has now effectively killed off all new exploration for energy in the Gulf of Mexico by either not leasing new plots or by making the permitting processes so onerous and time consuming, it is unprofitable for any drilling or spectating to be done. Ditto for land exploration for oil or exploitation of our newest discoveries of natural gas
- The NLRB, stacked with Big Union types, are redoing regulations such that Card Check will be effectively implemented – without input from Congress
- IRS staff auditing returns – without permission
And these are just the "easy pickings" for a blog post. Warnings were given to Congress in that it was making itself irrelevant – refusing to even address issues like spending too much and handing much of its responsibilities over to the Executive Branch (as with Obamacare) in the details that should be a part of a well crafted bill.
Instead, the Congress and the Senate have become, in large part, made up of people who wish to BE someone rather than assiduously doing the WORK to be done as elected. And yes, we need to accept our part in this blame for electing these chuckleheads over and over again and not holding them accountable.
We are, I fear, perhaps even worse off than before Nov. 2. Obama and his confidants know that any legislation that would advance his Progressive / Marxist / Socialist agenda will slow to a crawl at best and be walked backwards at worst. So what will he to do?
Wield the weapon at his disposal – to his benefit and my fear – that of Big Government. With unelected bureaucrats eager to extend their reach and control, it shows the danger that Big Government can become. For all of the reasons that Big Government is anathema to a free people, this is the worst, for what does one call a democratic Government that no longer bothers with democracy?
Same thing Hugo Chavez is doing in Venezuela – creating a dictatorship – just one run by millions with an overlord of one.
