Beware the Imperial Presidency

It is being reported that President Obama, in his State of the Union address today, will declare his intention to use executive authority to bypass Congress. A plethora of programs are to be pushed through on the economy, job training, infrastructure repair, climate change, and education.  White House Press Secretary Jay Carney foreshadowed Obama's address saying on Sunday on  ABC This Week that the President will "bypass Congress" when necessary in 2014, and take unilateral executive action to carry out his agenda. In an argument with Chris Wallace of Fox News, Obama Senior White House Advisor Dan Pfeiffer said the following "This can be a year of action. And we can make real progress. But we have to do it together. If Congress doesn't act, the president will."

Does this not frighten anyone?  Lest we forget, there have been others in history who have grabbed unilateral power claiming need to do so "for the sake of the people."  

On 24 March 1933. Hitler was granted  "temporarily" by the passage of the Enabling Act the freedom to enact laws without parliamentary consent. The formal name of the Enabling Act was Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich (English: "Law to Remedy the Distress of People and Reich".) The Act allowed Hitler and his Cabinet to rule by emergency decree. Hitler immediately set about abolishing the powers of the states and the existence of non-Nazi political parties and organizations. The Act effectively eliminated the Reichstag (the German Congress) as active players in German politics. While its existence was protected by the Enabling Act, essentially it reduced the Reichstag to a mere stage for Hitler's speeches.

While the Obama Administration's stated threat of pushing through programs bypassing Congress if necessary  may seem well-intended and benign by progressives hungry to move liberal initiatives forward, it should be viewed as  an outrageous and dangerous move for all regardless of political leaning.  There is a reason that our government was designed with checks and balances.  It was to protect us all from the unilateral rule of a King or Emperor or one man, one regime trying to assume King-like control.     History has demonstrated how pernicious that can be.  Other Presidents have been able to work with Congresses controlled by the opposite Party including as recent as the Clinton Administration. We cannot  allow one man to justify bypassing our elected legislators because his Administration is unable to effectively work with the Congress to accomplish goals.   Even the suggestion of this demonstrates a frightening disregard for our constitution and our rights therein.