Obama Uber Alles
Apparently, President Obama believes it is time to move beyond the constitutional constraint called separation of powers, an idea he considers outdated, obsolete and certainly not progressive.
A pillar of America's political foundation is the separation of powers enshrined in the Constitution. Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches are coequal but different in authority. Separation was how the U.S. Founding Fathers prevented a return to governmental tyranny. Separation was supposed to prevent the concentration of power in one person or group.
Mr. Obama has a habit of saying one thing and doing the opposite. Though he said, "I am not a king," as well as "I am not a dictator," he acts as though he is both rolled into one. He sees no limit to his power and behaves as though Constitutional limits on the executive branch do not apply to him.
The following are examples proving that the President Obama acts as though he were king, dictator, czar, sultan, or simply, Obama Uber Alles (Obama above all others.)
Religious Freedom (First Amendment)The case of Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged v. Burwell (Secretary of Health and Human Services) is currently before the Supreme Court. The issue is simple. The Sisters want to follow their religious convictions. Obamacare forces the Sisters to go against these beliefs in the matter of contraceptives and abortifacients.
The unfolding lawsuit shows the true agenda of the Obama administration. Shortly after oral arguments, the Justices asked the two parties if they could settle this amongst themselves. The Sisters said yes, showing how prior existing regulations could protect them. Even as the feds conceded that cost was not a factor, they still demurred. No compromise.
Why? For Washington, this is not about the First Amendment or healthcare. This case is about control, the concentration of power. The White House isn't about to give any away. Obama Uber Alles.
Gun control (Second Amendment)Everyone knows the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution explicitly states, "…the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." The Constitution does not specify certain people: it clearly meant all people. The president wants to deny guns to "a dangerous few," and he knows which people are dangerous. So, he wants to infringe their right to bear arms.
Congress has consistently refused to tamper with the Second Amendment.
In January 2016, frustrated with Congressional inaction, President Obama instructed his new Attorney General, Loretta Lynch, to offer him options how he might legislate from the oval office by Executive Order. His "end-around" Congress is a clear violation of separation of powers, but remember, Obama Uber Alles.
EnergyFracking is modern technology that allows access to untapped deposits of oil and natural gas in shale by injecting water, sand, and chemicals under high-pressure into petroleum-containing rock.
In 2005, Congress prohibited federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from regulating fracking, saying it was a State's right to decide how to control resources within its borders.
Recently, the Obama administration -- this time the Bureau of Land Management instead of the EPA -- issued restrictions and prohibitions on fracking in Wyoming and North Dakota, claiming it had the right to do so on federal and Indian lands.
As leader of the progressives, it seems natural for the Obama White House (Executive branch) to override the Legislative branch (Congress). Apparently, President Obama just doesn't believe in the separation of powers.
HealthcareHealthcare provides an unambiguous demonstration of Obama Uber Alles.Obamacare clearly specifies that only health insurance exchanges "establish by the state" can offer subsidies to defray the increased cost of government mandated health insurance.
The president was confident that the financial incentive would induce all states to set up exchanges. In fact, only seventeen did. So, Obama was forced to establish a federal online exchange called healthcare.gov. But his namesake law allowed only state-established exchanges to distribute his largesse.
Obama Uber Alles: the president instructed the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to issue a ruling that allows healthcare.gov to do what Obamacare law said it cannot do. This went to the Supreme Court in King v. Burwell.
It is my painful duty to report that the Judicial branch, the Supreme Court, has succumbed to Obama Uber Alles. They let the IRS ruling stand and thus permitted the Executive branch to over-rule the Legislative branch.
During his time in office, Mr. Obama has been quite successful in de-separating-concentrating-power in his hands. The Founding Fathers would say that the president is returning our nation to the very tyranny they rebelled against in 1776.
ImmigrationPossibly the most self-serving, illegal, and corrupt demonstration of Obama Uber Alles was in immigration. For the first three and a half years in office, Mr. Obama enforced our immigration laws, deporting 1.4 million illegals, more than anyone during a similar timeframe. In order to woo the Latino vote, five months before the 2012 election, he issued an Executive Order halting the deportations. Note that Congress had made no change in immigration law.
Legal challenges to this illegal order eventually followed, after people acquired legal standing. In November 2015, The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked the administration from implementing its executive action to shield 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation.
But no one dare challenge Obama Uber Alles. So, President Obama is now appealing to the Supreme Court to uphold his Executive Order that he signed because Congress did not pass a law that he liked. Apparently, no limits should be imposed on the power of Barack Hussein Obama.
We the People need to remind Mr. Obama that in this country, there is only one "Uber Alles:" the U.S. Constitution with its separation of powers. If future presidents follow in his footsteps, the U.S. will be right back where it started 240 years ago.
Dr. Deane Waldman MD MBA is author of "The Cancer in the American Healthcare System," and "Our Allies Have Become Our Enemies," and host of www.wecanfixhealthcare.info.
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