Democracy in a ‘Mandate’ World
Last week we talked about how democracy is threatened by Big Government.
It was also postulated that democracy is doomed when voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. It went on to suggest the promise of more largess to voters is how our Congressional representatives, who might otherwise be easily defeated, continue to get re-elected.
This week we’ll talk about power.
There’s an old saying that power is the ultimate aphrodisiac. Another is: power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Our president operates under our Constitution. Article 2 of the Constitution outlines the powers of the President:
Section 1. Executive (branch) powers
Section 2. Commander-in Chief of the U.S. military
With the advice and consul of the Senate, appoint ambassadors, judges and other officers
Section 3
Faithfully execute the laws
So, let’s review some of the ‘powers’ the recent presidents have exercised.
- Require citizens to lose their jobs, quarantine, and wear face masks at all times
- Require federal employees to be vaccinated or lose their jobs
- Revise immigration enforcement (the law) and open the southern border
- Cancel the Keystone XL permit
- Cease leases for oil and gas on federal land
- Rejoin the Paris Climate Accord
- Add and/or subtract federal regulations on just about everything
- Interpret laws to enforce new/different regulations
- Require training of all federal employees in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion
- Require racial “equity” in federal appointments and hiring
- Require all educational institutions that receive federal funding admit biologically male athletes to women’s teams, women’s scholarships, etc.
- Forgive and ‘pause’ student loan payments
- Send hundreds of millions in military aid to Ukraine
It is not the intent here to argue for or against any of the examples outlined above – or to single out President Biden. Recent presidents have all exercised Executive Orders that go beyond the laws.
It is the intent to question where the power to exercise any or all of them comes from.
It’s certainly within the power of the President to set policy. it is not within that power to create and execute actions that go beyond those powers as stated in the Constitution or by the laws on the books.
A great example is the powers executed around the COVID pandemic. It should give us pause to reflect. Again, this does not suggest the actions initially taken to mitigate the virus – without full knowledge of the disease – were not supported by the majority of citizens. But in a democracy the powers used have no basis in law. Shutting down businesses and schools is not part of the power granted to our president under the Constitution or subsequent law.
The fact that the populace complied – does not represent any legitimate power granted to our Executive branch of government.
When we are faced with an emergency – public health or otherwise – it does not give a president the power to impose any restrictions, limitations, or requirements on the citizenry. That job is reserved for our Congress – our representatives to the government.
Sure, it may have seemed that swift action was required. But when that type of circumstance is faced, the Congress has to be able to act quickly. And it’s capable of doing that.
The president can’t take the country into war. The declaration of war is constitutionally reserved for the Congress.
If it takes Congress to go to war, it takes Congress to impose an economic and educational shutdown to fight a virus.
What happened around COVID was our acceptance of dictatorial power. Because of our fear, we acquiesced. Frankly, when we look back and think about it – hopefully we learned we should never let that happen again.
Are we getting ‘trained’ to accept government mandate? The recent vacillation around the extension of the mask requirement to get on a plane assumes the president – using the CDC – can do that. No, he can’t! An airline can require it to fly on their airplanes, but the president cannot. But the news we heard is “the president has not yet lifted the airplane mask requirement” Fact is, he does not have the prerogative, the power, to impose it in the first place. A recent ruling by a federal judge ended the mask mandate requirement to wear a mask to fly or take public transportation. In her striking down the mandate she based the decision on the fact that requirements such as the mask mandate have no basis in the Constitution or in law. It’s a breath of fresh air for freedom and representative democracy.
In other arenas and in too many cases, the Congress has provided powers to various agencies of the executive branch to impose regulations that go far beyond the original intent of the law(s) it passed. It should not let that happen. It abdicates the trust we want our Congress to deserve. It allows the executive branch and bureaucrats to fill the power void – and most of them obviously are more than willing to do so. Meanwhile Congress can sit on the sidelines and either support or criticize – even though they’ve created and allowed it.
Power to the people, please. We are not sheep to be herded, periodically fleeced and taken care of.
The ‘mandate’ proclivity is hopefully over, with more challenges to power(s) not granted democratically – just usurped.
It’s not the way we want to live.
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Have a great and prosperous week.
Hug somebody.
References:
http://law2.umkc.edu/Faculty/projects/FTrials/conlaw/prespowers.html
SPIDER Bites
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