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Obama Tramples Upon the Constitution, Yet Again

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Obama Tramples Upon the Constitution, Yet Again

This is a brief detour on the series, If the Constitution Were the Solution…. to provide yet another very present example of how it has failed us.

How Many Can I Grab? How Many Can I Grab?

As most know, the 2nd amendment specifically reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

Why ain’t it working I ask? What part of the words “right of the people” does the President not understand? What part of the words “shall not be infringed” (violated) does the President not understand? Apparently, none of them!

He apparently believes he can simply alter our laws (and the Bill of Rights as well) with a few deft strokes of his pen, so to speak.

Today, he used the assumed (and made up BTW) powers of an executive order to make more laws regarding gun acquisition. The executive branch making laws? Huh?

His Justification for the Gun Control Moves?

“These are not only recommendations that are well within my legal authority and the executive branch,” he said. “But they are also ones that the overwhelming majority of the American people, including gun owners, support and believe in.”

His Constitutionally Granted Powers

Oh really now? Let’s look at what the Constitution actually has to say about the powers of the executive. The powers granted to the President in Article II, Section 2 are as follows:

“The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.
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.”

That’s it! Above are the extent of the Constitutionally granted powers to the executive according to the text of the Constitution, our supposed (as Bush Jr. always liked to refer to it) “rule of law”.

Where Does It Say the Executive Can MAKE Laws?

Now can someone please demonstrate, based on the text of the U.S. Constitution, where his capacity to issue executive orders regarding the 2nd amendment arises?

You know, because for the life of me, I see nowhere in the powers granted in the specific text of the Constitution that the President is granted the ability to issue an “executive order” that creates laws applying to ANY of the amendments, let alone one specifically claimed to be “the right of the people” NOT the government.

At best, (let me repeat that- at best) the executive executes or enforces the law and even that is an overreach based upon the powers specifically defined as demonstrated above from Article 2, Section 2. Nowhere in the Constitution is he delegated the power to MAKE laws. Nowhere!

To me this is yet another example of how useless the text of the Constitution has become when it comes to limiting government (which is supposedly what it was instituted for and expected to do).

Another False Claim in Obama’s Statement

Obama claims that this move is what the “overwhelming majority of American people, including gun owners, support and believe in.” (An oldie but goodie for Obama- something we can believe in. At least according to Emperor Obama that is.)

This is nothing less than a patent falsehood, or in more common parlance, a lie.

American gun owners by and large want the Federal government out of their faces when it comes to gun ownership. It is, as the Constitution stipulates, a “right of the people“. Gun owners are not fools. They clearly recognize that which is why there is an active membership in the NRA and there are organizations like the Gun Owners of America are calling to repeal these unConstitutional orders meddling with the right of the people. (The executive order was designed to apply to the executive branch only, not as a means of creating laws BTW. Another, distortion of the Constitution. See defined powers above for the executive’s controls.)

Additionally, according to the latest Gallup poll, the President DOES NOT have an overwhelming majority by any stretch of the imagination or interpretation.

What the Public Really Feels About Gun Control from Gallup Polling

As summarized in an article in The New American entitled “America Pushes Gun Control; Most Americans Don’t Want It”:

“Gallup just issued its latest poll indicating that

1) most Americans don’t really give two hoots about what the president is doing about the gun “problem” but

2) instead are increasingly concerned about government overreach, which has hit new highs during his administration.

Specifically, concerns about the gun issue that Obama is focusing on comes in at 19^th out of 23 issues presented by Gallup to 12,000 American adults over the past 12 months. At no time did gun control ever engage more than seven percent of those respondents, while for most of 2015 the issue engaged just one percent.

Much higher on the list, according to Gallup, is government: specifically government under Obama. In 2007, governmental overreach concerned just seven percent of Americans but climbed steadily as the Obama administration pressed its agenda to “change” America, and now is at 16 percent. Said Gallup: “For the second consecutive year, dissatisfaction with government edged out the economy as the problem more Americans identified as the nation’s top problem in 2015.”

About the so-called “gun issue” Gallup added: “Another issue that briefly spiked as a concern in 2015 was gun control, with mentions rising from near 1% most months to 7% in October and December following mass shootings that dominated the news.” On average, just two percent of those polled listed gun control as a concern during all of 2015.”

More lies from a President whose campaign was built upon and whose 2 terms have continued to reflect.

Back to the Constitution

Perhaps now you can see why the Constitution has essentially failed us. It is little more than an inconvenience these days rather than the claimed “Rule of Law”. The President and others routinely step over or around it and claim rights upon that, like our phony Federal Reserve Notes, are manifested out of the thin air.

I hope to return to the Constitution series in the next few posts, but I hope this cements my point a bit more firmly about how the Constitution is NOT the solution. Not any more and quite possibly never was! We’ll be considering that as we move along.

Fact is, there ain’t hardly nothin left of the sucker. Constitution? What Constitution? Obama acts like an Emperor and we are all expected to bow and say, “Yes, master. How high was that you wanted me to jump?”

Oath of office of Congress? What oath of office? For the most part they stand around with their thumbs up their you know what’s and spinelessly/complacently, quite simply- let it all happen. Along with the Constitution, the oaths of office for all politicians (starting with the President and Cabinet on down) mean little to nothing these days.

Why should it? The Constitution is in shreds already. There ain’t nothing left to uphold!