The Slippery Slope of Constitutional Aberration

BY MICHAEL REISIG –

Sen. Ted Cruz, recently speaking at the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s policy orientation for the Texas Legislature, charged President Obama with a pattern of “lawlessness on a breathtaking scale” that he said even liberal Democrats will come to regret when a future president seeks to exercise similar unbridled power.

The point is well taken because, once a precedence is set there’s no going back, and I truly doubt there’s a Democrat out there who isn’t beginning to have some concern with the pace that President Obama is making himself king. But more importantly, once you fracture or ignore the laws and regulations of this great nation, it is done, and there is little chance of turning back – not just with the concept of constitutional aberration, but with the psychology of the greatest office in the land. Obama is not just playing fast and loose with the past foundations of this country, he is passing laws with executive privilege and doing end runs around Congress that will leave this nation vulnerable by precedence for decades to come.

The real problem is not so much with Congress, but in the voting classes. I would say easily 60 percent of the people who have voted for Obama are not “readers” per se, and they have never been serious followers of history. The great nations of history all followed a distinct pattern: They started out strong, with conscientious leaders and a no nonsense treatment of those who broke laws, and gradually deteriorated from the inside out. The republics like Rome became soft, their congresses and senates falling into self-serving hedonism, and their leaders eventually succumbing to their own propaganda, losing sight of the nation and becoming sociopathic “gods.” What they lost in the process was their Constitutions – their written course for the nation, because the highest elected leaders (and elected is a key word here) became so enamored with themselves they considered their opinions more valuable than the precepts and cannons that had served the nation for hundreds and hundreds of years.  I have written before that democracy is generally not a sustainable form of government, because once voters discover that they can vote themselves entitlements from the public treasury, the majority would always vote for the candidate who promises the most benefits. Eventually, government coffers dry up in this quid pro quo competition, and democracy proceeds to entitle itself to death. Usually by this time the Caligula Syndrome begins to emerge, and integrity in politics deteriorates, politicians in general becoming more interested in what their country can do for them rather than what they can do for their country.

I would have never thought this was possible in my lifetime but it is, and it’s happening. In the process, another victim in all this is truth. We are beginning to realize that truth has found little place in government and civic affairs for some time, and what little of it that actually sees light is muffled, gagged, or contorted by a cooperative press and a bought-and-paid-for judicial system.

That whole thing is a slippery slope: The unembroidered truth is no longer free to scamper about our legislative or judicial process. It’s continuously rewritten in a fashion that would make Stalin proud, and pleases only whatever leader or political coalition that is presently in power. They used to call that a banana republic.

“We are a nation of laws and not men,” said Cruz. “If we had a system where a president can pick and choose what laws to follow at utter whim … that is seriously dangerous.”

We do have that system, now, Mr. Cruz, and that president – and both are dangerous.

The views and opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the ownership and staff of The Polk County Pulse. Michael Reisig is a freelance writer and published author whose works are reproduced throughout the globe.

About Author

Jeri Pearson

Jeri is the News Director for Pulse Multi-Media and Editor of The Polk County Pulse. She has 10 years of experience in community focused journalism and has won multiple press association awards.

See author's posts