Congress Must Check the Power of a President Who Thinks He’s a King
Genevieve Wood /
I was wrong.
I once believed that no matter who was elected president, he would never be quite as good as I hoped he would be, nor would he end up being as bad as I feared he might be.
I still stand by the former belief, but President Obama has proven me undeniably wrong on the latter.
I never expected to agree with Obama on government spending levels, regulation policies, America’s leadership role in the world or, for that matter, how to best reform our immigration system.
But I did expect that debates over such issues would be fought, and won or lost, in Congress and at the ballot box. I didn’t expect the debates would be ended by the president deciding he’s had enough and simply unilaterally changing the laws of the land with a stroke of his pen, as he announced he would do Thursday night.
President Obama announces executive actions on U.S. immigration policy during a national address from the White House Nov. 20. (Photo: Jim Bourg/Newscom)
The president’s move to make laws on his own, in this case granting millions in the country illegally with legal status, is a major blow to the American people’s ability to govern ourselves.
This action cannot be allowed to stand.
How so? Obama’s move suggests that it is no longer via our elected lawmakers or our votes on Election Day that the laws of the country are decided. Instead, Obama has now set the precedent that presidents can create laws on their own. They can bypass Congress and bypass the people.
This action cannot be allowed to stand.
It is absolutely vital that Congress check the power of the president – using its constitutional “power of the purse” not to fund the actions he has called for. This is critical–and not because the legalization of millions of people here illegally is unfair to those waiting in line and trying to enter the country legally or because it will be very costly to taxpayers or because it will no doubt encourage a new wave of immigrants to cross the still unsecured border and thus, far from “fixing the problem” as the president talks about, will make the problem larger and worse.
The No.1 reason Congress must rebut the president’s move is because it fundamentally changes our form of government and the ability of citizens to decide the laws of the land. Obama says he is not a “king,” but he acted exactly like one in going forward with this executive action. Despite what Obama says, this was not interpreting a law passed by Congress but creating a law Congress had refused to pass.
Few kings throughout history have been perfect leaders. Even the more noble ones were not always noble, and the less virtuous kings, unchecked in their power, were often complete tyrants. The founders of our country not only knew history, but they had lived that history.
That’s why America’s form of government doesn’t include a king. That’s why our Constitution doesn’t give the president the powers and authority of a king. And that is why Obama should not be allowed to act like a king.
In America, we the people are not subjects. We are citizens. We the people are calling on Congress to stand up to, not bow down to, a president who thinks he’s a king.