When the Constitution of the United States was designed, there was serious debate about the need for and the danger of an executive branch of the government. It was finally decided that the inherent balance of powers put into the Constitution would prevent the executive branch from exceeding its authority. Woodrow Wilson, FDR and now Barak Obama have figured a way around these constraints and the balance of power between the legislative, executive and a judicial branch is weak if it exists at all. When Obama announced he “had a pen and phone” he was challenging the idea of whether judicial and legislative branches of government are even necessary. By selectively choosing which laws to enforce or ignore and by imposing executive orders, Obama is essentially running the government by fiat. With the power given the president by the Patriot Act, Obama can declare martial law any time he chooses and run the government without Constitutional restraint. I will argue he is doing this pretty much already without evoking the Patriot Act.
Bill Payne
Libby