Over the two years, the President has demonstrated his penchant to issue Executive Orders that exceed his Constitutional authority as President and that – if not addressed by Congress – will create a regulatory framework which, for all intents and purposes, nullifies Congress’s authority under the Constitution.
On March 16, 2012, The White House posted its most recent Executive Order on the White House website: Executive Order - National Defense Resources Preparedness. Under this order, as I read it, the Federal government can take – in the name of “Defense Preparedness” – food, livestock, fertilizer, farm equipment, all forms of energy, water resources, all forms of civil transportation (viz., any vehicles, boats, planes), and any other materials, including construction materials from wherever they are available. Specifically, the government is allowed to allocate materials, services, and facilities as deemed necessary or appropriate. Because this is an Executive Order, I assume this means that the President, without consultation with the Congress, decides what is necessary or appropriate.
Specific responsibilities are delegated to cabinet heads as follows:
1. the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to food resources, food resource facilities, livestock resources, veterinary resources, plant health resources, and the domestic distribution of farm equipment and commercial fertilizer;
2. the Secretary of Energy with respect to all forms of energy;
3. the Secretary of Health and Human Services with respect to health resources;
4. the Secretary of Transportation with respect to all forms of civil transportation;
5. the Secretary of Defense with respect to water resources; and
6. the Secretary of Commerce with respect to all other materials, services, and facilities, including construction materials.
Cabinet heads are authorized to loan money (viz., does that mean print money?), offer loan guarantees, and even subsidize payments at above market rates for whatever is needed. What happens if the government decides it needs all these things to be prepared, even if there is no war? Does this mean if energy prices are driven too high by his EPA mandates and threatens our defense preparedness, he can speak into existence alternative energy and compulsory conservation, even though these technologies will not produce a sufficient quantity of dispatchable, low-cost energy to meet America’s needs? Does it mean that if healthcare costs are too high, he can demand single-payer healthcare even though it is found to be unconstitutional? Does this mean, he can take my cars and boat, because the federal government simply decides to because it does not like the amount of energy they consume? Why did he not go the American people and explain why he needs this authority? Why did he not go to Congress? Where is the media?
Bottom line: in a crisis situation – which he defines – the President has given himself the authority to take whatever the government needs, print money to get whatever it wants, and distribute it as the government sees fit.
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