What are the limits of presidential power? If you've followed the news lately, this question has cropped up more and more as we spend billions of dollars we don't have fighting a dictator that has not attacked us or our interests in quite a while. In fact, he's pretty much left the United States alone and worked with us for the better part of two decades and we rewarded him by removing Libya from our terrorist state list.. Now don’t get me wrong, Gaddafi is a terrorist, brutal dictator and a mad man. But should we have initiated what Obama calls a “kinetic military action” against him because of the civil unrest in his country that posed no threat to the US? Maybe...I don't know, but that’s not the crux of the problem I have with this administration’s decision. My problem lies in the fact that Obama did not have the common courtesy that is mandated by our Constitution, to go to Congress, lay out his plan and reasoning and ask for approval for this military action! President George W. Bush did for Afghanistan and Iraq. Obama instead unilaterally just went along with the United Nations and the Arab League, but did not notify the governing body he was constitutionally required to go to first. For the first time in my life I actually agree with something that Louis Farrakhan said about Obama and this action in Libya…”Who the hell do you think you are?!”
For some reason, world leaders decided that in the face of all the Middle East revolutions everywhere, it was time for Gaddafi to step down after more than 42 years in power. The Americans took a subservient role in the operations and allowed the other allies (who have traditionally refused to lead any global effort) to dictate the policy of this attack ... whatever that policy may be at this moment as it has constantly flip-flopping from one objective and then to the opposite of that objective. And to top off this whole thing, the crème’-de-la-crème’, now we find out that some of the rebels we are helping are our sworn enemy…al Qaeda…and we are also arming them!!! What is the matter with this administration! They are assuming that the enemy of our enemy is our friend, not that they are also our enemy. This is basic national security 101 stuff. It is amateur time in the White House. Anyway, I digress…
All we hear is that it's time democracy came to the Middle East. I caution the world on using the term “democracy” too loosely. The “democracy” we are seeing in the Middle East is nothing more than the “mob rules” kind of “democracy” which inevitably will lead to a powerful centralized figure or party corralling the passion of the mob...sound familiar? It should…after all, “democracy” is what Hitler and Lenin called for when they took power as well.
But is “democracy” what these Middle Eastern nations want? Do they really want to take our Constitution, its underlying principles, and simply yank it out of its historical context and deliver it to the nations that have nothing in common with the inherent theme and values of the "rule of law" and “inalienable rights” that underscores the foundation of this document?
So then, what do we REALLY mean when we talk of "the rule of law and inalienable rights?"
In essence, it that there is a higher law and God given rights that governs the affairs of men, ones that come from God and not from man and therefore can never be taken away or infringed upon. Because we are endowed by God with the rights enshrined in our Constitution, our human government must conform to those laws. But again, what exactly does that mean? I know what it used to mean, but believe that we as a country haven't a clue anymore.
Whether you want to believe it or not, it was essentially the Judeo-Christian framework of the Ten Commandments that formed the foundation for the laws enacted in this country. Our history also instilled within us the understanding that man was essentially sinful at heart and did not possess inherent goodness. We understood that with power usually comes corruption and that, that corruption was as evident in our governing bodies as it was in society as a whole. That is why the Constitution limits the power of government and what power it does grant must be shared equally among the three branches. Therefore, if a President authorizes a military action without approval from the Congress, who has the sole Constitutional authority to do it, then the President usurped the Constitutional power from Congress under Article 1, Section 8 Powers of Congress…”To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water.” Should he be charged with a crime and impeached? You betcha! I’m not the only one that thinks this way either. Here is what VP Joe Biden said as a Senator in 2007 when President Bush was contemplating an attack on Iran over its nuclear weapons ambitions.
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