President Obama and the Looming Constitutional Crisis

Houston, we have a problem. A looming constitutional crisis threatens our democratic republic. As George Washington University Professor Jonathan Turley has stated, we have reached a constitutional tipping point.

The old saying “The pen is mightier than the sword” is true. When the pen belongs to the president of the United States, it can be wielded much like a sword, cutting through layers of red tape to speed things along. It is the president’s right to exercise executive privilege; it’s governing with his phone and his pen, as President Obama likes to say. One minor detail the president leaves out, however, is that what he does with that pen must align with the Constitution. It is his job to protect and uphold the Constitution, not pull new laws out of thin air to satisfy the most vocal interest group.

Not that he would agree, but it looks like the president has done just that with his executive action, at the stroke of a pen legalizing more than five million illegal aliens. This gives them access to work permits, social security numbers, and the earned income credit.

Now you might say, what’s the big deal? Doesn’t the president have the power of the pen to enact things like this quickly? Though the president can exercise executive action, his actions must be constitutional. Defying Congress (after it has already spoken) and taking unilateral action to legalize five million people with one stroke of a pen is firmly in the court of the unconstitutional. Here he is clearly writing new law. And under our system of government, only Congress can write and pass laws; the president’s right is to either veto them or sign them into law. Under President Obama, separation of powers, and checks and balances, seem to be dead.

You might say, what’s the big deal, especially if the president can fix a problem faster than Congress? Why shouldn’t he, right? Well, the simple answer is he’s not allowed to; he cannot give himself the authority to pass and ignore whatever laws he pleases. Besides, who says what he did fixed the problem? That’s a matter of opinion. Allowing President Obama to get away with this starts us down a very slippery slope – one where we relinquish all authority to one man who can get things done quickly just by using his pen.

Do we want to live in a country where the law is whatever the leader says it is? If you are like me, you want to live in a constitutional republic where no man is above the law. If we are to preserve our way of life, then we the people must stand up and be the people who are willing to fight and die for a nation. Like the founders, we must be willing to risk our lives, our reputations, and our fortunes to save a nation.