The Oval Office Outlaw

Chicago, in its 178 years of blustery existence, has produced its fair share of murderers, gangsters, spies, and assorted miscreants—H.H. Holmes, John Wayne Gacy, the Unabomber, Richard Speck, Jose Padilla, John Dillinger, Al Capone,  Robert Hanssen, the 1919 Black Sox; but most dangerous of all is the erstwhile Windy Citizen whose premeditated actions threaten to destroy an entire country.

Barack Obama, bound by oath to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, has done precisely the opposite since the first hours of his misbegotten administration.  As Robert Knight so aptly points out, “The scope of his lawless disregard expands by the day.” (Obama tears up the Constitution – Washington Times).  Obama’s actions–and ofttimes his words–are not those of the leader of a country in which no man is above the law.  They are the musings of a would-be dictator:

• “Mr. Obama has told people that it would be so much easier to be the president of China. As one official put it, ‘No one is scrutinizing Hu Jintao’s words in Tahrir Square.’” (Obama wishes he was president of China – The Washington Examiner)

•  “There are times where — until Nancy Pelosi is speaker again — I’d like to work my way around Congress.” (Obama Once Again Declares He Wants to Circumvent Congress – The Blaze)

• “Given that Congress cannot act, I am acting.” (Obama Says He’s Exempting States from Education Law Without Congressional Authorization – CNS)

• “Believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting.  I promise you not just on immigration reform. But that’s not how our system works.” (Obama tempted to go it alone–if only he could – ABC News)

From healthcare to energy; from education to immigration, Barack Obama and his underlings routinely ignore the law when the law does not conform to leftist ideology:

• President Obama will bypass Congress and appoint Dr. Donald M. Berwick, a health policy expert, to run Medicare and Medicaid, the White House said Tuesday. (Obama to Bypass Senate to Name Health Official – NYT)

• Up to one fifth of America’s electricity-producing coal capacity may be shut down by new federal environmental regulations between now and 2017. The federal government is forcing plants to close, and as they do, jobs are being lost. (Obama Bypasses Congress & writes his own New EPA Coal Rules Shuttering Plants and Killing Jobs -Americans For Freedom.com)

• President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Friday will explain how they plan to water down the Bush-era education law called No Child Left Behind, the Washington Post reported Thursday. The report said the Obama administration will waive some of the law’s toughest requirements and substitute their “own brand of school reform.”  (Education Sec’y Feels ‘Compelled’ to Go Around a ‘Dysfunctional’ Congress – CNSnews.com)

• In June, immigration officials announced this they will no longer apply immigration law against illegal immigrants who are studying, who have family relations in the U.S. military, or who are caring for ailing relatives. In August, officials announced they would drop deportation procedures against up to 300,000 illegal immigrants who are now being held, but not suspected of having committed major crimes…“This is being done because Congress didn’t pass the DREAM act,” which Obama wanted to boost his 2012 support among Hispanic advocacy groups, said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies think tank.” (Obama Routinely Bypasses Congress, Conservatives Say – The Daily Caller)

• “The president’s never made a secret of his desire to change America, that’s what he campaigned on and that’s what he did at the beginning of his presidency. He’s already changed it radically through legal means through Obamacare, but when he doesn’t succeed in Congress, he goes under the radar.” Krauthammer provided examples including the DREAM Act which says that if you were brought here by illegal parents, and you meet certain criteria, you get amnesty. Congress rejected the act, so Obama’s Department of Homeland Security issued regulations which essentially enact the DREAM Act. He also outlined Cap & Trade, which he describes as a way to regulate the emission of carbon and shut down the coal industry. The last Congress, which was controlled by Dems, utterly rejected it. The administration is now issuing regulations that will essentially shut down about 10% of coal generating electricity in the U.S. (Krauthammer: Obama Is Using Regulations to Bypass Congress and Change Our Country

• The Environmental Protection Agency has said new greenhouse gas regulations, as proposed, may be “absurd” in application and “impossible to administer” by its self-imposed 2016 deadline. But the agency is still asking for taxpayers to shoulder the burden of up to 230,000 new bureaucrats — at a cost of $21 billion — to attempt to implement the rules. The EPA aims to regulate greenhouse gas emissions through the Clean Air Act, even though the law doesn’t give the EPA explicit power to do so. The agency’s authority to move forward is being challenged in court by petitioners who argue that such a decision should be left for Congress to make. (EPA: Regulations Would Require 230,000 New Employees, $21 Billion – The Daily Caller)

Perhaps this is why almost half of the citizens of the United States consider that the Federal government poses “an immediate threat to individuals’ rights and freedoms” (Americans Express Historic Negativity Toward U.S. Government – Gallup).

200 years ago, Americans would have locked and loaded over such infringements and disregards to their liberty.  But these days, we’ve all ‘progressed’ past that.