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An Imperial Presidency In The Making?
By Chuck Baldwin
March 31, 2010

This column is archived at
http://chuckbaldwinlive.com/home/?p=1095

Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal carried a story entitled “Obama Steps Up
Confrontation.” It said in part, “On Thursday, the president challenged
Republicans who planned to campaign on repealing his health-care bill with,
‘Go for it.’ Two days later, he made 15 senior appointments without Senate
consent, including a union lawyer whose nomination had been blocked by a
filibuster.

“At a bill-signing event Tuesday, he is set to laud passage of
higher-education legislation that was approved despite Republican objections
through a parliamentary maneuver that neutralized the party’s filibuster
threat.”

Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) called Obama’s decision to federalize most
student loans “really brazen” and “the most underreported, biggest
Washington takeover in history.”

See the WSJ report at:

http://tinyurl.com/wsj-obama-confronts

If history teaches us anything, it teaches us that power always craves more
power. And there are only 2 ways to check power: internally, through
self-discipline and humility; or externally, through equally determined and
equipped counterforces.

Americans should thank God that George Washington was our first President,
because no one exemplified self-discipline and humility more than he did.
After having led the colonies to perhaps the most miraculous revolution in
world history, Washington was universally adored and even idolized. There
were many that even attempted to make Washington America’s king. He flatly
refused this proposal, of course. (Compare Washington’s character and
humility to former President G.W. Bush, who, on this subject, said, “If this
were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m
the dictator.”)

The concept of an American monarch may seem foreign to us today, but
remember that a monarchy was the only form of government the colonists had
ever known. And there can be no doubt that a monarchy (or some form of it)
has been the single most popular form of central government that the nations
of the world have utilized. But remember, too, the theme of America’s War
for Independence was “No King But Jesus.” And no one believed that more than
General George Washington did.

Like most of America’s founders, Washington distrusted government in general
and despised big government in particular–even though people were willing
to make him government’s imperial ruler. Listen to the Father of our
Country:

“Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it
is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.”

Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a man of George Washington’s caliber in the
White House for many a moon. Instead of distrusting and limiting the central
government, the vast majority of modern Presidents have completely ignored
the constitutional role of the Presidency, and have sought to expand the
authority of the executive branch of the federal government to proportions
never allowed in the Constitution or envisioned by its creators. And Barack
Obama is following the example of his predecessors by continuing this
malevolent model (with increased rapidity, I might add). The above-mentioned
stories are just the latest examples of what is fast becoming an imperial
Presidency. It seems that every day another example of executive arrogance
and usurpation of power takes place.

Given the lack of genuine humility and character of America’s President–and
the unwillingness of Congress and the Supreme Court to restrain his
unconstitutional propensities–it is left to the states and the People to
hold this would-be king in check.

And here is another reason to be thankful for America’s founders: they
recognized the ultimate role of the states in safeguarding and protecting
liberty. As James Madison said in Federalist 45, “The powers delegated by
the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined.
Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and
indefinite.”

In Federalist 39 Madison said, “Each State, in ratifying the Constitution,
is considered as a sovereign body, independent of all others, and only to be
bound by its own voluntary act. In this relation, then, the new Constitution
will, if established, be a FEDERAL, and not a NATIONAL constitution.”
(Emphasis in the original.)

If America’s founders desired that a national–or monarchal–government be
established in the United States, what was the purpose of the original 13
colonies retaining individual statehood? Why would each State retain its
authority as “a sovereign body,” if not to serve as a vanguard against the
encroachment upon liberty by the central government?

And never has liberty been more vulnerable to oppression and tyranny than
right now! Why? Because ever since 9/11, both political parties in
Washington, D.C., have placed America in a state of perpetual war. This fact
alone puts the federal government in a position to become America’s
oppressor.

In the first place, the Congress of the United States (then controlled by
Republicans) abdicated its constitutional obligation to be the sole
determiner regarding America’s entrance into war by providing then-President
Bush with virtually unlimited and unchecked ability to determine and wage
war clearly outside the perimeter of constitutional authority. And since
taking over the federal government last year, Democrats in Washington, D.C.,
have followed suit.

But listen to Madison: “The executive [President] has no right, in any case,
to decide the question, whether there is or is not cause for declaring war.”

Furthermore, the condition of unending, perpetual war only serves the
purpose of lessening liberty. To quote Madison again: “No nation could
preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.” Madison also
declared, “If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the
guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” And one more from Madison: “The means of
defense against foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny
at home.”

One needs to only look around to observe that Madison’s warnings are quickly
becoming a reality in these United States.

What all this means is that the American people cannot rely on Washington,
D.C., to control itself. We cannot trust Washington politicians and
bureaucrats to have the character and self-discipline to honor the
Constitution and defend our liberties. If we are to preserve our freedom in
this country, it will be up to the body politic in each State to do it. If
the Congress and Court in Washington, D.C., will not rein in this burgeoning
monarchy at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, then the states and People must.

At this point, I do not believe there is any way to avoid it: a showdown
between freedom-loving states and the federal government is inevitable. But
not only is it inevitable, it is absolutely necessary!  The central
government in Washington, D.C., is quickly morphing into a monarchy–or at
the very least an oligarchy. And neither the Donkeys nor the Elephants
inside the Beltway are willing to do anything to stop it. Either the states
determine to defend the rights and liberties of the American people now, or
we are destined to be governed by DC’s despots. Furthermore, we cannot cede
to the US Supreme Court–or to any other federal authority–our
independence, and most certainly, those fundamental elements necessary to
our very survival. Only the states and the People, respectively, can
maintain these bulwarks.

The question is, Will my State raise the “Don’t Tread On Me” flag and
sincerely defend my liberties? And the follow-up question is, If my State
will not do it, which states will, and what will I do? We have little
choice. Either we join with a State that will fight for our liberties and
help procure freedom for our posterity, or we follow radical unionists (and
globalists) into a modern-day monarchy that is marching America toward
oppression and servitude.

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Posted on April 1st, 2010 under Presidency • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback