Posted on 06/17/2012 7:02:18 PM PDT by Mark
President Barack Obama's unilateral decision to grant de facto amnesty to an estimated 800,000 illegal immigrants is the most naked Executive Branch violation of the separation of powers since Franklin Roosevelt's disastrous attempt to pack the Supreme Court in the 1937.
In 1938 Americans went to the polls in huge numbers to repudiate Roosevelt's decision. The Republicans picked up 81 seats in the House of Representatives, the worst election loss in FDR's legendary career.
It's imperative the American people let our current president know we repudiate his extra-legal action just as our grandparents and great grandparents did nearly 80 years ago.
If Obama can simply change the laws of the land with a stroke of his pen, what can't a president do? Why have a Congress if the laws of the land are to be rewritten by the president with no debate, no Yeas or Nays?
This is government by decree.
And it's dangerously un-American.
While Americans of good will can agree or disagree with the intent of Obama's action - granting legal status to the so-called "DREAM Act" kids, illegal immigrants carried into this country by their parents - anyone with even a rudimentary understanding of how the three separate but co-equal branches of government are supposed to work must be horrified at the president's action.
Amnesty advocates may be frustrated Congress has not passed the Dream Act but that doesn't empower the president to make his own laws.
Like it or not, under our system of government non-action by Congress IS action.
Congress didn't pass the DREAM Act deliberately. It wasn't an oversight or gridlock. It was rejected because the citizens who sent them to Congress did not want the DREAM Act to pass.
The president and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and others may not like the action Congress took, but act they did. The president has nullified the will of the people as expressed through their legally elected representatives. The president's action is blatantly unconstitutional.
As any regular reader of this column knows, I have maximum sympathy for kids trapped in a situation not of their making, while I remain staunchly opposed to amnesty for the millions upon millions who cut the line at the border.
We either believe in sovereign borders or we don't. Mexico certainly believes in the sovereignty of her borders.
But the president's action goes beyond even the emotional debate over what to do about illegal immigration. He has entered a realm of imperial power that, literally, has no limit.
If Obama can remake the statutes on immigration, why can't he simply change the tax code? Or the drug laws? Or any other law he so chooses?
And what about the next president?
What if he decides to end abortion? To ban gay marriage? To mandate prayer in schools? To drill for oil on the White House lawn?
Defenders of the president's action will undoubtedly cite countless examples from history of presidents acting when Congress wouldn't. Don't be deceived. Obama has gone where few have ever dared to go.
For example, as bad as it was when Congress abdicated its responsibility for declaring war and handed George W. Bush a blank check in Iraq, at least that authority, as cowardly as it was, came from Congress.
This president simply grabbed power and he'll keep it unless the American people, Congress or the courts set him straight and quickly.
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Doug McIntyre's column appears Sundays & Wednesdays. You can reach him at Doug@KABC.com.
But, he is THE ONE!
Doug McIntyre bump. Does he still do Red Eye Radio? I haven’t stayed up that late in a long time.
The states need to stand up and use their powers. If the feds want to cut off the money that is ours anyway, we can trade other goods.
I last heard him doing Red Eye about 6 months ago.
Stopped? That would require a congress with courage and integrity. LOL!
Yeah, they huff and they puff but they ain’t gonna blow the house down. Bambi does what he wants, and they STFU. Pretty good deal for the usurper.
DM is back on morning drive radio in L.A.
I wonder if he will apologize for voting for Obozo.
Yes, MR. OBAMA is out of line and needs to be impeached for such actions. But my QUESTION is: “Where is MITT on this this issue.” We don’t need a timid person in the White House. WE NEED A LEADER. Observation: “Where are posts on Romney, rather sparce I might add!”
If Congress does not stop this unconstitutional usurpation of power, it has violated its oath. This political tightrope walking by Congress reminds me of Nik Wallenda. Zer0 has got away with such a litany of misdeeds, I cannot believe he has not fallen off on his ear. Maybe this is the Achilles heel that trips him up. It has handed Congress Zer0’s political head on a platter.
Communist Marxists operate on moral relativism. The Constitution is some outdated ramblings of simple frontiers men, the way they see it. They don’t want people to understand the brilliance of the document because they want to implement Communism without the consent (which the Constitution mandates) of the governed.
McIntyre has not apologized for helping Larry Elder fired in December 2008. Happily Elder is back at KABC and at the prime 3-6 shift.
I remember hearing them fight on the radio....after Elder got the boot, I lost any and all respect for DM. He got Larry fired because he expressed his opinion, which is what I thought talk radio was all about.
Larry Elder called Doug and Al Rantel “The Marx Brothers” for voting for Obama.
Doug called in to Larry’s show the day after the election and basically said he did it to teach the Republican leadership a lesson.
Part one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye4icfnGfVc
Part two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eX9u2O9dwf0
Well, maybe Doug has EVOLVED.
Elder shot back at both the guest and Rantel a few days later. Rantel never subbed for Elder again.
Idiotic, Obama can decide not to competently enforce almost any law his employees are responsible for enforcing.
What he can’t do is decide to enforce edicts that are not in law. This is why it is so important to have as few and specified laws as possible.
Constitutalist need this power. We need the ability of all 3 branches to kill unconstitutional acts. Government programs must be as unstable and unreliable(based upon the changing tides of politics) as possible To make impractical dependency upon the Government.
I have a question about this power-hungry idiot.
When he loses by a landslide this November will he give up his throne willingly in January?
This is more interesting in light of the fact that Doug McIntyre voted for Obama.
I guess Doug figured out the error of his ways.
Repeal the 17th amendment and this will fix itself.
If they are extra legal, then why isn't he being officially charged with something... "extra legal" action my part would land me in jail.
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I gather from having listened to him that he was an indifferent, “cradle” Catholic (hence his vote). However, I also gather he’s quite intelligent — too much so to remain indifferent (hence his column).
The guy is as smart as a whip. Could be the next Rush, if he gets a few things straightened out.
"...I think (the Constitution) is an imperfect document. A document that reflects a flawed culture." - Barack 0bama; Oct. 2008
I’d agree that ‘cradle Catholic’ pretty much describes McIntyre. He’s an odd political animal, sometimes a mushy centrist, sometimes on the Right, and sometimes voting for an Obama.
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