March 1, 2011
By Paul E. Vallely
Barack Obama has been President for just over two years and during that time we have seen unprecedented government expansion and invasive regulation of nearly every aspect of our lives: guns, land, commerce, healthcare, climate, banks, automobiles, energy, and food. He has circumvented Congress by appointing Czars, and has legislated through regulation, Executive Orders, and Signing Statements. He has also flooded the National Labor Relations Board with his Union cronies. He is a one-man government, and has changed our country from the rule-of-law, to the rule-of-man. “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition”
James Madison
Is the President Above the Law?
President Barack Obama’s decision not to fully enforce the Defense of Marriage law eventually could lead to a constitutional crisis, as he has directly violated his constitutional duties by arbitrarily suspending a law. If any other President especially a Republican took these Obama actions, there would be calls for Impeachment and there should be. This constitutional crisis is moving to constitutional chaos. The country is doomed unless it slashes its debt and radically revamps the popular Social Security and Medicare programs, but instead, he chastises Governors for making tough choices he refuses to make at his own level.
Attorney General Eric Holder said that the administration will not defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act in the courts, which has banned recognition of same-sex marriage for 15 years. President Clinton signed the act into law in 1996. Obama’s decision to forego a legal defense of the law has caused a firestorm of anger from conservative groups. Obama must be taken to task for his decision and as Newt Gingrich points out; Obama is not a one-person Supreme Court and his decision sets a “very dangerous precedent” that must not be allowed to stand.
The Oath of Office versus the ‘Rule-of-Obama’
Obama swore an oath on the Bible when he became President, that he would uphold the Constitution and enforce the laws of the United States. The idea that we now have the Rule of Obama instead of the rule-of-law should frighten everybody. The fact that the Progressives support the policy, is allowing them to ignore the fact that this is a very unconstitutional act. It is absolutely critical for Obama to comply with Congress and the constitutional process.
The House Republicans must pass a resolution instructing the President to enforce the law and to obey his own constitutional oath, and they should say if he fails to do so that they will zero out [defund] the office of Attorney General and take other steps as necessary until the president agrees to do his job. His job is to enforce the law, that’s the job of the Chief Executive of the USA. For us to start replacing the rule-of-law with the Rule-of-Obama is a very dangerous precedent.
Clearly Obama’s and Holder’s actions are a dereliction of duty and a violation of constitutional oath and are something that cannot be allowed to stand.
Have these individuals set out to create a constitutional crisis under the Saul Alinsky and Cloward/Piven model? I think they do not understand the implication that having a President personally suspend a law is clearly unconstitutional, or do they? This is the uncomfortable question many Americans are asking after President Obama’s lawless decision to stop defending the law of the land on the institution of marriage in federal court.
The Obama administration SAID that it will no longer defend the federal law that bans the recognition of same-sex marriage because it considers the legislation unconstitutional, a sudden and rare reversal. Gay rights groups hailed the administration’s move, saying it will bolster their argument that laws that apply a different standard to people based on sexual orientation are unconstitutional. At least three challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act are working their way through the federal courts. Until the courts decide, Obama must enforce the law as it is written.
In effect, Obama is the new ‘Judicial Czar’
Is this the end result of his dubious czar appointments: that he has, in effect, appointed himself “Constitution Czar?” In one move, Obama would override the Constitution and redefine marriage! In Clintonian fashion, Obama will continue to enforce a law he thinks has no constitutional basis. So much for three co-equal branches of the Federal Government.
The Disgrace
Now let’s talk about the disgrace of Attorney General Eric Holder as a citizen and a member of the Obama progressive team. From day one, Judicial Watchvigorously opposed the Holder nomination due to his corrupt record in the Clinton administration as a Deputy Attorney General under Janet Reno. It was apparent that Holder would be a disaster as Attorney General. One could not have predicted just how bad the situation would get on his watch. Just take a moment to review Holder’s record so far:
1 – The top political appointees at Holder’s Justice Department were intimately involved in the decision to dismiss the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense, a “civil rights” group that brandished weapons, blocked a polling station and hurled racial insults at voters on Election Day 2008.
2 – During the course of a year-long investigation of the Black Panther scandal, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights made startling accusations of racism at Holder’s Justice Department, a charge corroborated by Justice Attorney Christopher Coates.
While failing to protect the country from the scourge of rampant illegal immigration, the Holder Justice Department made matters worse by suing the State of Arizona for implementing a new get-tough illegal immigration law, S.B. 1070. Judicial Watch represents Arizona State Senate President Russell Pearce, the author of S.B. 1070, and the entire Arizona Legislature against this shameless legal assault by Holder’s Justice Department.
3 – Judicial Watch recently received documents from the Department of Justice that show Holder’s DOJ worked hand-in-hand with the radical leftist ACLU in mounting their respective legal challenges.
4 – Just one week after suing Arizona, Holder’s Justice Department announced it would not prosecute sanctuary cities who flout federal immigration laws.
5 – To this day, Eric Holder refuses to initiate any investigation of the corrupt enterprise known as ACORN, despite the organization’s long, sordid history of election fraud. In fact, while noting that ACORN had engaged in “questionable hiring and training practices,” Holder’s Justice Department actually closed down one ACORN investigation in March 2009, claiming ACORN broke no laws.
Meanwhile, the organization, now splintered into corrupt cells across the country, continues to violate the law. Holder’s unwillingness to prosecuteACORN calls into question his impartiality, considering the fact that President Obama previously worked with the organization.
6 – Holder’s record on national security is abysmal. Not only is Holder leading the Obama administration’s ridiculous on-again, off-again campaign to close Guantanamo Bay, but it was Attorney General Holder who made the disastrous initial decision to grant a civilian criminal trial to 9/11 terrorist mastermindKhalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) and other 9/11 terrorists in New York City. AsCNN pointed out, Holder has still not told the American people of his final plan to hold 9/11 terrorists and how they will be brought to justice. I suspect, however, it will not be the justice they deserve. According to press reports, at least seven attorneys inside Holder’s Justice Department previously represented terrorist suspects in court.
7 – And if all of this isn’t enough evidence of Holder’s corruption and incompetence, Fox News has its own expanded list of Holder’s greatest hits. This week’s latest assault on the rule of law lends further support to Judicial Watch’s effort to “Dump Holder.” America needs an Attorney General who will defend the constitutional order and not be a political, personal lawyer for a president who seems to know no constitutional restraints on his power.
You see, we do not need you in government other than to represent us, the People, and abide by and protect the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. We will not permit the leaders in the White House and Halls of Congress to lead us down a road of Progressive Socialism and destruction of the Republic. The Patriotic Revolution that I forecasted well over a year ago is happening now.
We Constitutionalists face a battle that is unknown to our generations so we must be aggressive in our collective efforts to continue to turn back the tide. The Fate of the country is now in our hands and the plea from the majority of our citizens is to enforce the Constitution, severely limit the Federal Government and it’s out of control spending. There is a growing list of documented violations of the Constitution and their Oath of Office by current elected and appointed government officials.
Some thoughts to ponder as you think about these points:
The Declaration of Independence states:
“To secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness.”
Lincoln issued this warning in his inaugural address:
“Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing government and form a new one. This is a most valuable and sacred right – a right which we hope and believe is to liberate the world.”
Thomas Jefferson said:
“If once the people 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, in spite of individual exceptions.”
James Madison, Federalist No. 51, February 8, 1788
Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?
Paul E. Vallely is a retired Major General, US Army, and is the CEO and founder of Stand Up America.
Paul E. Vallely MG, US Army (Ret)
Chairman – Stand Up America
E-Mail: standupamericaceo@gmail.com
www.standupamericaus.com
www.veterandefenders.org
www.soldiersmemorialfund.org
www.patriotsunion.org
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