To the editor:
Regardless of the justification, I have never supported executive orders, used by any president of any party at any time for any reason, simply because our Constitution never included that provision.
It should not escape our attention that Abraham Lincoln was the first president to enact executive orders. He also unilaterally suspended the Writ of Habeas Corpus. He imprisoned Maryland's duly elected legislature, although the state had not seceded. He tried to do the very same thing in Missouri with the help of General Nathaniel Lyon... although Missouri had emphatically declared its neutrality. Only "after" Missouri was attacked did Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson ask the "escaping" state legislature for an act of secession.
Lincoln closed northern newspapers that criticized him besides arresting their editors. In late May or early June 1861, President Lincoln secretly ordered an arrest warrant for Roger B. Taney, the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, but later abandoned the idea. Justice Taney made the unlucky mistake of criticizing Lincoln for unilaterally suspending the Writ of Habeas Corpus.
Earlier, President James Buchanan refused to use military force to stop the secession of states from the Union, even though he did not agree that they had the right to leave. Buchanan believed that the president was limited by the Constitution and laws. However, his successor did not share his views, and the attitude of the presidency has changed ever since. President James Buchanan was the last constitutionalist to serve in the Executive Branch.
Every president since the Civil War has justified the use of executive orders based on the Divine Lincoln.... Republicans and Democrats alike, from FDR to GW. Can we ever forget the memorable quote of President Barack Obama, "I've got a pen... I have a phone," referencing his unconstitutional intent to issue executive orders?
In the truest sense, our Founders meant for the executive branch to enforce the law, not create it or change it.
We already crossed the line when we broke the Constitution during the 1860s. The Supreme Court ruled that Congress did not have the power to declare war on a state, and the president could not "originally" declare war on anyone without the consent of Congress. However, the Civil War proved that we were gradually drifting towards despotism when the ink first dried on our beloved Constitution. Sadly, we are no closer today to the original intent of the Framers than our country was then.
Never, ever forget that our Founders chose the Roman model of republic rather than the Greek model of democracy. To that end, a time came in the old Roman republic when the people no longer cared. On that day, Julius Caesar broke the supreme Roman law that no general could cross the River Rubicon and enter the Capitol with his army. However, Caesar felt justified in his action, declaring, "The die is cast!"
Subsequently, when Caesar's army stepped into the river's brink, the Roman republic died and the empire of Rome was born!
Some things simply cannot be walked back from. "The silver cord snaps, the golden bowl breaks; the water pitcher is smashed, and the pulley at the well is shattered." - Ecclesiastes 12:6