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The Community-Agitator-In-Chief has inflicted yet another constitutional crisis upon the republic with his recent “recess appointments.”
These appointments represent precisely what our Founders rebelled against – the unilateral dictatorial decree of a tyrant executive. The Founders split power between three branches of government to avoid the grand errors that always arise from concentrating too much power in too few hands. In the situation at hand, the constitution requires otherwise unaccountable bureaucrats to receive the consent of the Senate before being deputized as our masters and overseers.(1)
The Founders made provision for the so-called “recess appointment”(2) in an 18th Century world – intending it to cover the exceptional condition of the Executive branch needing to suddenly fill a position between sessions of Congress, when re-convening an adjourned Congress was dependent on the horse and buggy.
The recess appointment simply serves no purpose anymore in a world of travel governed by the internal combustion engine and jet air flight. At this point in history, the recess appointment no longer serves its’ originally intended purpose as a stop-gap measure mitigating the limitations of Congress to hold up its’ end of the appointment / confirmation bargain. The recess appointment is now nothing more than a procedural option the Executive possesses for subverting the originally intended separation of powers.
The political argument over these appointments makes my point. In practical terms, it is nothing but political theater. Every single one of today’s Senators could make the round trip home and back to DC in infinitely less time than the 18th century Senator from New Hampshire might have spent stuck in a Philadelphia snow storm just trying to get home. The Senate Majority leader can send a tweet instantly to have the Senate in session day after tomorrow. If Barry needs these positions filled so badly, he should just tell Dingy Harry Reid to get everybody back in town and get the confirmation process started.
For the same reasons, the argument over whether Congress is or is not really in recess based on the House’s refusal to accept the Senate’s adjournment(3) is more political theater than constitutional legal debate. It really doesn’t matter how many warm bodies are inside the Capitol. Speaker Boehner has the power and capacity to get every Representative back into the building day after tomorrow.
If Barry is truly the enlightened “progressive” constitutional scholar he claims to be, he should be arguing that we “progress” into modern times by amending the constitution to eliminate recess appointments altogether. But he won’t – because the only real value held by BHO and his corrupt gang of Progressives is the raw, naked exercise of power.
Just ask Anita Dunn’s favorite political philosopher, Mao Tse-Tung: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
Or ask Barry’s community agitator hero, Saul Alinsky: "The third rule of ethics of means and ends … the end justifies almost any means...." (p. 29 of “Rules For Radicals”)
Or ask Dingy Harry Reid why he used the identical tactic (not adjourning) to block Bush era recess appointments, yet rejects the same argument against Barry’s recess appointments today.
Footnotes
(1)Article II, Section 2 of the constitution.
(2)Article II, Section 2 of the constitution.
(3)Article I, Section 5 of the constitution.
Proposed constitutional amendment: "Article II, Section 2 shall be amended to remove the final paragraph 'The President shall have Power to fill up all Vacancies that may happen during the Recess of the Senate, by granting Commissions which shall expire at the End of their next Session.'"
Got that, Ezra Klein? It's really not that hard.
d(^_^)b
http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/
"Because the Only Good Progressive is a Failed Progressive"
Update 1/18/12
A visit today to this site generated by a long ago forgotten url signed comment reminds LAS this is not the first time Barry has abused Article II, Section 2.
