Impeachment: Our Lost Check on Power

The Imaginative Conservative ^ | July 11, 2014 | Bruce Frohnen

[don-o]

The real story is not Mr. Obama’s contempt for the rule of law. The bigger story is Congress’ continuing tolerance of presidents who honestly believe it is their job to rule our nation, making law-like pronouncements on their own because the fact that they were elected supposedly gives them a “mandate from the people.” According to our Constitution, presidents are not elected to rule. They are elected to see that the laws are faithfully executed. And it has been all too long since that has happened.

The arrogance of this president, who continually declares and acts on his intention to rule unilaterally in areas where Congress refuses to bow to his will, certainly is breathtaking. Also breathtaking has been the arrogance of Mr. Obama’s minions, on display in various Congressional hearings. But then these last six catastrophic years followed on eight years of another of our nation’s worst presidents—George W. Bush—who also showed contempt for the rule of law in his many unilateral and often secret executive actions. Why has this been happening? Because presidents today do not fear Congress. They are frustrated by Congress, may even hate Congress, but they do not fear it, and feel no particular urgency about cooperating with its members, or even upholding and abiding by the statutes Congress passes and they themselves sign into law. Instead, vast, vague, programmatic “laws” like Obamacare merely serve as starting points to be shaped and reshaped by waivers and other regulatory rewrites based solely on the judgment, will, and desires of the president.

[don-o]

Nothing here that we do not know. But, worth a read

[MrB]

Does the article actually mention the real reason that this president can’t be held accountable?

[Sequoyah101]

What? That he is black or that reid is an equal traitor and senile as well?

[MUDDOG]

presidents today do not fear Congress

Roman emperors didn't fear the Senate either.

And they still called it the Roman Republic.

[Walrus]

What presidents used to fear was a critical and adversarial press.

[SMARTY]

Impeachment proceedings should have begun long ago.

There has certainly been ample and valid grounds for impeachment, and from the very start!!

At this point, it is reaching a critical mass!

[MUDDOG]

I used to think the Internet would take up the slack, but it hasn’t worked out that way.

[don-o]

I used to think the Internet would take up the slack, but it hasn’t worked out that way.

Never give up. What is happening in Mississippi right now would not be happening without the internet.

Keep an eye on Sharyl Attkisson.

[jazzlite]

...”What presidents used to fear was a critical and adversarial press.”...

This is plainly and simply the issue.

[envisio]

I always wondered how the media would cover an actual impeachment process if it were to actually take place.
How far would the process get before they would mumble a 5 second report about Obama actually getting impeached.

I can see getting all the way to the point where Obama is getting on the plane... Nixon-style... after formally being impeached and the media still lying on the floor in the fetal position saying ‘lalalalala .. its a myth... lalalala cant see anything, lalalala it never happened, Obama still great.’

[Amendment10]

As a consequence of parents not making sure that their children are being taught about the Constitution, constitutional checks and balances in this case, grumbling and complaining patriots have so far missed two opportunities to do the following concerning Constitution-ignoring Obama. They have let slip though their fingers the opportunities that they had with the 2010 and 2012 elections to elect enough federal senators who would be willing to remove Obama from office if the House impeached him.

And its beginning to look like patriots and former Obama supporters are likewise going to let the 2014 elections slip through their fingers with respect to enabling Congress to exercise this constitutional option to remove Obama from office.

As a side note concerning the federal government's constitutionally limited powers, please consider the following. The states would sure be a dull, boring place to grow up and live in if parents were to make sure that their children were taught about the federal government's constitutionally limited powers as the Founding States had intended for those powers to be understood. /sarc

Thomas Jefferson had put it this way:

“Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, judges and governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature.” - Thomas Jefferson (Letter to Edward Carrington January 16, 1787)

[OldNewYork]

Thanks for posting this. It’s important enough for everyone here to read, especially anyone lukewarm on prosecuting without some ironclad guarantee of easy, total victory.

[caww]

....”The bigger story is Congress’ continuing tolerance of presidents who honestly believe it is their job to rule our nation, making law-like pronouncements on their own because the fact that they were elected supposedly gives them a “mandate from the people.”......

Once again...the finger is pointed ‘at Congress’ laying down and playing dead. There unwillingness to act against Alibama and knowing full well what he’s doing is against “the people’s constitution”, makes them compliant regardless of their reasoning for refraining from acting.

Therefore it’s now up to the people to enforce the constitution.....just as communities have begun to stop the illegal drop offs to their communities. Evidencing again...”Politics” is local.