Over the last five years during Barack Obama’s reign as President, it has become routine for Obama to uphold those laws he personally affirms and reject those he detests. However, this week Obama elevated his own rhetoric and threatened to continue the lawlessness of his administration when he demanded that Congress either move forward with his legislative agenda or he would arrogantly move forward without them. In stating “I have a pen… and I can use it” Obama affirmed he will (ab)use that pen to force his will on Congress and you and me, spitefully denying our nation’s three co-equal branches of government.
Obama’s latest threat not only reveals his contempt for our Constitution and the rule of law, but he also displayed the elitist attitude that permeates Washington. Did our Founders intend two classes of citizens – an elite group which is above the law and the rest of us who are expected to obey THEIR laws? Of course not!
But here is the dilemma each American faces as Obama (and Congress) increasingly reject our Constitution:
Do we obey the edicts and rulings, referred to as executive orders and regulations, of those who would seek to subvert our Constitution? Or do we reject them?
If we obey them, are we prepared to ignore and trample our own Constitution, ultimately suppressing and violating our own moral conscience? However, if we reject Obama’s unlawful rulings when and how should this be done and are we prepared for the consequences?
One cannot answer these questions for others. Rather, they must and will become questions that each of us will have to answer. And there is no skirting them. A non-answer is an answer.
These are truly “times that try men’s souls” and I do not see any sign that Washington’s insatiable appetite for greater power and control over the lives of “We the People” is tapering. Rather, the actions of not just Obama but also much of Congress affirm the truth that the Washington elite of both parties are separated only by degree or intensity regarding their desire to inflict their will on you and me.
There is no doubt in my mind that a point of confrontation is coming in our nation – one in which the populace will no longer silently acquiesce to the increasing tyranny of the elite. What that confrontation will look like and how and when it will occur is hard to predict. But Thomas Jefferson understood this truth when he penned these brilliant words in 1787, just four years after the conclusion of our revolutionary war:
“I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.”
While Jefferson’s words still hold true to this day, the sad reality is that a coming confrontation is entirely avoidable would our elected officials once again return to the foundational premise of our nation: that “all men are created equal” and that we are a nation of laws not men. But then, our “rulers” no longer believe that truth and so at some point, their arrogance and elitism will lead our nation to a point of rebellion — either at the ballot box or in the streets.
They will decide.
