Executive Exuberance

The transition has taken place. We have a new sitting president. The change of power ended up all being a rather quiet affair considering the predictions that were made of mass violence in the capital and in state capitals everywhere. There were 25,000 troops stationed in DC for the inauguration to stomp down any violence that might occur. Nothing major happened.

NOTHING MAJOR HAPPENED – unless you consider that in his first 12 days in office President Biden has signed 25 executive orders, 10 Presidential memos and 4 proclamations. They have the full effect of the law but have not gone through the constitutionally provided process for becoming law. Your congressman has not voted on them or debated them. Nor has your senator. Nor has any court of the land said that they were legal and binding. There is no authority in the constitution to issue these orders. And yet they are law.

Biden is not the first president to issue executive orders of course. President Washington himself issued 8 over his 8 years as president. President William Henry Harrison is the only president to have issued none. President Franklin Roosevelt has the record having issued 3,721 orders or roughly 307 orders per year in office, almost one per day. No one knows for sure how many orders have been issued in total but some estimates are over 50,000.

The question that comes to my mind is, ”Are we ruled? Or are we governed?” If ruled, the president can issue any law he wants to control his subjects. But if we are governed, don’t we as citizens have a right to expect our representatives to use the constitutionally provided process for making law before we are expected to comply?

My point is we are not subjects. We are the republic. The President does not rule, no matter what the winning percentage was in his last election. It could be 100%. It doesn’t matter. We rule! We do not like to be told what to do through executive action. Hence the revolution which broke our ties with England and a King who issued order upon order expecting free Americans to heed and obey. We expect our legally elected representatives to do their constitutional duty and make laws only that will protect our rights, our God given rights to life and liberty. Anything beyond that is treason.