When did Executive Orders become the Fourth Branch of our government? I know it's not Biden. Nor Trump. Nor was it Obama. But somewhere, somehow, executive order anymore seems to be the way presidents get to impose their agendas by circumventing that pesky legislative process. Perhaps I'm wrong, but it's a feeling I have. And I don't think it's a good trend.
Yeah, I've been thinking the same thing. It's a royal decree in all but name.
ReplyDeleteThirty or forty years ago, we really should have added constitutional amendments defining the limits on executive orders, on executive privilege, on the authority of a president to start and even declare a war (which George W. Bush did), and to issue pardons (no pardons for elected officials or officials confirmed by the senate). It's too late for that now -- no one really cares what the Constitution actually says, it's what we can MAKE it mean, goshdarnit!
And once upon a time (back in October 2020!), there was a presidential candidate who said, "I have this strange notion, we are a democracy ... if you can't get the votes ... you can't [legislate] by executive order unless you're a dictator. We're a democracy. We need consensus."
ReplyDeletehttps://twitter.com/i/status/1354035368211984390
That's OK, I have it on the best of authority that people threatening politicians, storming government buildings, destroying property and killing innocent people are merely peaceful protests, not riots or insurrections. Funny what a few months can do for principles.
DeleteFrom the start, in 1787, they should have put limits of Executive orders. They were a bad idea from the start
ReplyDeleteIn hindsight that's obviously true. It was a small loophole that has become an avenue toward making us more and more a state governed by the whims of an individual - the very thing the Founding Fathers wanted to avoid.
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