Students of American history will recall some of
the many grievances against King George III that were called out in the
Declaration of Independence. Among them were the following:
“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and
sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their
substance.”
“ …imposing Taxes on us without our Consent”
“…depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury”
“He has combined with others to subject us to a
jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws”
I cite
those indictments because they represent just a few that still affect us to
this day.
But,
rather than a monarch being the source of such unconscionable anguish, it is our
very own President that has been guilty of such crimes against our people.
It was
never intended to be this way.
In the
years that followed the signing of that sacred document on July 4, 1776, the
Founding Fathers utilized their newfound independence to fashion a government
that was beholden to the people (rather than a people that were beholden to the
government). Knowing full well the flaws that come with Kings, they created a
republic, and for it a Constitution that clearly called out the limited powers
and responsibilities of our federal government. In just over 1,000 words they
defined the role of the Executive – the President – someone who theoretically replaced
the role of the King, but unlike a King, had almost no powers. The President
could not make laws, exert taxes and fees, and declare war among numerous other
things that Kings took for granted. A President’s duties were very few: He was
to be the face of our nation, the Commander in Chief of our armed forces, the
appointer of judges and ambassadors, and he was to execute the laws created by
Congress.
Although the
ultimate law of the land – the Constitution – clearly and concisely identifies the
legal role of the President, we’ve seen the office stray from those
limitations. And, despite protestations
by the Grand Old Party, this is nothing new to the office since President Barack
Obama came into power. Every President of our lifetimes has been as despotic as
kings, including alleged small government types like Ronald Reagan. They do as
they shouldn’t and do as they want, even if the end result is not the peoples’
will.
This
addiction to centralized, unconstitutional power has become the norm and dates
back to the days of Lincoln, a man who had no absolutely no consideration for
the Constitution and a man who history has painted as a hero (and something
approaching a god) for it. Lincoln opened the floodgates that led to the modern
and popular interpretation of the presidency that allows Presidents to declare
war (our last Constitutional war and occupation was World War II), suspend
trial by jury and exert indefinite detention, and use their administrative
offices to make regulations (which are laws), impose taxes (fees and fines),
and infringe upon the rights of the people and the sound operations of the free
markets. They have grown beyond the boundaries of their duties and have assumed
the powers that were once - and are elsewhere – bequeathed to monarchies, doing
everything, unchecked, that a Congress should, thus taking all power away from
the people and keeping it for themselves.
The people
fail to see that the ultimate power should be in their hands, through our
representative form of government. The nation was founded so that the Congress
was the most powerful branch of government. The general belief is that all
branches share equal power; this is not so -- the Executive Branch should only
be a check and a balance to an overreaching Congress, as are our courts to
both. Our nation was founded this way so that the masses were equally
represented and the development of laws and budgets came from a governing body
directly accessible to the common man and which could actually be comprised of the
common man. The rights and consent of the government were paramount.
Yet, sadly,
that is not what the people seem to want anymore.
Reflect
upon what we’ve observed in this election cycle (and every cycle before it).
The voters want to know what the presidential candidates will do for them. They
expect them to fix the economy, regulate industry, exert social mores upon the
masses, assume war powers, make laws, control the Congress, create tax policy,
intervene in foreign affairs, and suppress liberty in the name of security. They
think the President is – and they clamor for – a singular power, a central
office…in essence, a king.
What has
become of our United States? At this rate, what will become of them?
Bob Confer is a Gasport resident and vice president of Confer Plastics Inc. in North Tonawanda. E-mail him at bobconfer@juno.com.
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This column originally ran in the 29 October 2012 Greater Niagara Newspapers
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