Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Founders Would Vote to Impeach Barack Obama
Townhall.com ^ | January 16, 2016 | Joy Overbeck

Posted on 01/16/2016 9:33:49 AM PST by Kaslin

The American Founders and signers of the Constitution, despite their brilliance, failed to anticipate a president who would take the law-making powers they had given solely to the peoples' Congress into his own hands. After a brutal 11-year war to win a new nation from a tyrannical king, they couldn't imagine a future leader who would don metaphorical crown and ermine robes to impose his imperial will upon a people conceived in liberty. Also, they believed that by separating government into three branches, each with its own clearly defined roles, no one branch could usurp the power of the others. They were wrong.

As Thomas Jefferson said, "An elective despotism was not the government we fought for...but (one) . in which the powers of government should be so divided and balanced among several bodies as that no one could transcend their legal limits without being effectually checked and restrained by the others..."

But Jefferson never met constitutional expert Barack Obama. This president has seized powers light-years beyond his designated role to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed" (Article II section 3.) This president regularly proves that the Founders' careful construction of the founding document is no match for a determined autocrat bent on breaching its firewall of checks and balances.

Having just struggled through a long and bloody battle won against the most powerful nation on earth and finally secured "the blessings of liberty" for the people, the Framers would never have fathomed a president could have such contempt for those who died for that liberty as to systematically violate it.

A president whose Democrat minions in Congress force-passed a bill without one Republican vote that deprived the people of their freedom to make their own decisions on doctors and health care and required them to buy a government-imposed product. Unheard of. This takeover of one-sixth of the nation's economy would have been simply beyond belief to the Founders.

They would be furious that the same overweening government would shred the Constitution's pledge of the "free exercise" of religion by hounding a group of altruistic, care-giving nuns and many others into court to force them into supplying abortion drugs to employees in violation of their faith. Thomas Jefferson would be especially livid, having assured the worried Baptists of Danbury, Connecticut that a "wall of separation" between church and newly created state would protect them from such malicious government interference. Yes, that wall of separation - a phrase originated ironically by the founder of the Baptist Church in America, Roger Williams, who wrote of a wall being erected around the "garden of the church" to protect it. How perverse that today this Baptist phrase is viciously wielded against believers instead of in support of their rights to free expression.

Likewise the Founders would be appalled at a president who uses the cynical subterfuge of executive orders and unelected agencies like the EPA to actually make laws, a function the Constitution assigns solely to the peoples' elected representatives in Congress. Even more outrageous; he makes new laws that the Congress has specifically rejected or refused to pass. He calls it his "We Can't Wait" campaign.

The peoples' representatives refuse to pass Obama's "comprehensive immigration reform" so his arrogant response is to declare 5 million illegal aliens temporarily "legal." Twenty-six states sued, and last February federal Judge Andrew Hanen ordered the government to immediately stop issuing work permits to these illegals. But this slap-down didn't stop Obama. His Department of Homeland Security passed out 2,000 green cards to illegals (about 100,000 had already been issued) after Hanen's injunction in direct disobedience to the judge's court order. An outraged Judge Hanen declared he was "shocked and surprised at the cavalier attitude the Government has taken" and demanded to know why Homeland Security chief Jeh Johnson and other immigration officials shouldn't be held in contempt of court. Well judge, Attorney General Holder was held in contempt of Congress; big deal.

Then last November the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit upheld Hanen's decision, ruling that the president had exceeded his authority, essentially rewriting the nation's Immigration and Nationality Act. In fact, the plaintiffs noted: "The President candidly admitted that, in so doing, he unilaterally rewrote the law: 'What you're not paying attention to is, I just took an action to change the law.'" But two decisions against him only emboldened the president further and his "Justice Department" now plans to take the case to the Supreme Court.

This president also circumvents the Constitution in the arena of foreign affairs. By the slick ploy of calling the disastrous Iran nuclear treaty a "deal" not a treaty, the chief executive has dishonesty dodged the constitutional requirement that 2/3 of the Senate must consent to such agreements. Obama knew that would never happen; thus the "deal" lingo. This non-treaty treaty has several important provisions: it doesn't legally restrain Iran because it hasn't been signed by that nation's president nor approved by its parliament; it rewards Iran with $150 billion to fund Iran's terrorist campaigns against us and the rest of the world; and it forbids us to inspect Iran's nuclear facilities. Iran celebrated by firing off a couple test missiles designed to carry nukes, festivities banned by the U.N. and the "Deal."

Same ruse with the Paris "Climate Change" con. While the world is waking up to the bogus statistics that prove man-caused climate change an elaborate hoax, Mr. Obama swaggers out of a Paris confab with yet another deal, this one servicing his pet jihad against dirty, nasty, but essential to survival, fossil fuels. Still what a triumph: China, the polluter champ of the world, pledged to start reducing carbon emissions in 15 years! Though nobody really agreed to anything but unicorn-cupcake promises, Obama can be trusted to try using the "pact" to further decimate the coal industry and put tens of thousands of Americans out of work. That'll show a Congress unwilling to pass his precious cap and trade regs who's boss.

All of these unconstitutional maneuvers have obvious catastrophic effects on Americans. But the most profoundly malevolent, at least in clearly revealing Obama's distaste for this nation, is his steady release from Gitmo of jihadis sworn to murder Americans. We know that about one-third of them go back to the battlefield as highly esteemed commanders. Yet our commander-in-chief persists in inflicting these killers on his own troops. Imagine George Washington capturing the British top generals decimating the rag-tag American troops in the Revolutionary War, and then releasing them knowing many would kill his own soldiers. Imagination fails.

The signers of the Constitution gave us but one recourse for a rogue chief executive whose destructive actions imperil the American peoples' liberty: impeachment. According to Article 2, section 4, "The president...shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors." In their fervent patriotic naivete, the Founders provided us no other remedy. Of course the color of his skin has inoculated Barack Obama against any thought of impeachment. Meanwhile, he rends our beloved America sinew and bone and nothing seemingly can stop him.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: palinwasright
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-42 next last
To: Junk Silver

You are correct.

Before they did anything, the Founding Fathers would take us all to the Wood Shed for allowing all this.


21 posted on 01/16/2016 10:18:29 AM PST by laplata ( Liberals/Progressives have diseased minds.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

They wouldn’t just impeach him. (Go through the motions). They’d probably try him for treason, remove him from office and hang him or put him before a firing squad. That was back when men were men, and were proud OF it.


22 posted on 01/16/2016 10:24:00 AM PST by Tucker39 (Welcome to America! Now speak English; and keep to the right....In driving, in Faith, and politics.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Tucker39

Excellent point


23 posted on 01/16/2016 10:27:35 AM PST by Kaslin (He needed the ignorant to reelect him, and he got them. Now we all have to pay the consequenses)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

If we had followed the Founders instructions to only elect a natural born citizen as president we wouldn’t have the tragedy that this president is.


24 posted on 01/16/2016 10:27:44 AM PST by Duchess47 ("One day I will leave this world and dream myself to Reality" Crazy Horse)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Obama is the product of Satanic deception perpetrated upon America. Part of this deception is the shaming of all “races” which has imprinted on the collective consciousness of our nation a vulnerability to being manipulated through psychographic profiling and other methods of mind control through the media.

Whites are taught to feel guilty and be ashamed of being white. Blacks are taught to feel guilty and be ashamed of being black. Hispanics are taught to feel guilty and be ashamed of being Hispanic. Etc. We are also constantly presented images depicting how whites, blacks, etc. should behave and what to expect from ourselves and each other.

“White guilt” occupies a large territory within the mindscape of Caucasian Americans. This allowed a Marxist enemy of the state to be elected president AND to get carte blanche for his agenda.

All “races” and ethnicities should be happy and content with how God made them. Each person must accept both their own personal strengths and weaknesses in order to set and achieve his or her goals. The end of racism requires first the accepting of one’s own identity. While we have the responsibility to right the wrongs of the past, we do not inherit guilt of anything our fore parents have done wrong, and we especially do not carry the guilt and responsibility of our “race” as it were.


25 posted on 01/16/2016 10:28:30 AM PST by unlearner (RIP America, 7/4/1776 - 6/26/2015, "Only God can judge us now." - Claus Von Stauffenberg / Valkyrie)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The founders would have challenged him to a duel!

Mark


26 posted on 01/16/2016 10:32:41 AM PST by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Duchess47

Whether or not Obama is a natural born citizen would be based on whether he was born in the US. He claims he was born in Hawaii which was part of the US when he was born. However, being born in the US is not always necessary to be a natural born citizen. It was in his case because his mother did not meet the residency requirements of the naturalization act of 1952.

The raging debate on this forum for some ridiculous reason is whether Cruz is natural born. I avoided jumping into the fray when it first happened because I thought the silliness and pettiness would die down.

Even if Obama is technically a natural born citizen, which we can only guess because his identity has been so well hidden from scrutiny, he is clearly foreign in his thinking and loyalties.

On the other hand, Cruz is technically, legally AND practically a natural born citizen. His loyalties are to this nation.

Under the same act in 1952, Cruz was a citizen of the US from birth because his mother’s US citizenship was conferred to him at birth. He did not have to naturalize.

Some here are stuck on the convoluted theory that natural born somehow means without legislation, and naturalized means citizen by legislation. I have shown evidence to the contrary.

The founders understood children were naturally citizens based on their parents’ citizenship, or in some cases, based on their parents’ residency if not in the nation of which they were a citizen. This is because children cannot consent to be governed, so the parents must give consent for them until they are of age. Natural born means the transferring of the parents’ natural state to the child at birth.

Because citizenship is a legal construct (people are born humans automatically but not citizens apart from legal system to make it so) even being a natural born citizen must be identified by law. Laws cannot change the definition of natural born or naturalization, but they can define the rule of naturalization. This includes who is a citizen at birth, who must go through a process to become a citizen, and what that process is. (The process could be an application or simply a statute or amendment declaring a class of people to be citizens like the 14th amendment did.)

Ultimately, a natural born citizen is whoever is a citizen at birth according to the laws of naturalization which were in effect at the time of such birth. A naturalized citizen is someone who becomes a citizen later. Cruz was born an American citizen. He is natural born. He meets the qualifications for president.


27 posted on 01/16/2016 10:45:36 AM PST by unlearner (RIP America, 7/4/1776 - 6/26/2015, "Only God can judge us now." - Claus Von Stauffenberg / Valkyrie)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

I vote to impeach Obama

Impeach , arrest , charge , indict , trial , conviction and incarceration in Gitmo


28 posted on 01/16/2016 10:53:02 AM PST by LeoWindhorse
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

congress IS NEGLIGENT

the grounds for impeachment run from TREASON to failure to undertake his oath of office....

NOW it’s up to Congress to ACT..... and they won’t


29 posted on 01/16/2016 10:54:28 AM PST by zzwhale (acts of treason)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

This impeachment stuff is so tired. Not only is it too late but no one that has the power to do it has the spine to do it. The entire establishment are pathetic spineless crooks living the good life in our banana republic.

I’d rather fantasize watching those banana trees being rammed up the Uniparty’s rear end.

We need to get past this impeachment and birther stuff, and look forward to the day Trump or Cruz moves in and just cleans house. Thinking of this never gets tiring.


30 posted on 01/16/2016 10:57:23 AM PST by redfreedom (Voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

He should have been impeached for Fast and Furious. Goodness knows how many crimes and usurpations of power have been perpetrated since then.


31 posted on 01/16/2016 11:30:37 AM PST by Carry_Okie (The tree of liberty needs a rope.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The founders would have declared the usurper ineligible and run him out of town on a rail.


32 posted on 01/16/2016 11:52:22 AM PST by bgill (CDC site, "We still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
The article would be good if it were not for the first paragraph—which is outrageously false. Our Framers definitely DID anticipate guys like Obama. This is why they gave us both Separation of Powers and impeachment provisions.

One might be tempted to say that our Framers did not anticipate the corruption that has destroyed the Separation of Powers and rendered impeachment power a joke—but that would be incorrect, too. Our Framers KNEW that this sort of mess would eventually happen if we were ever to become a democracy. (They loathed the idea of democracy—which is why we were established as a republic rather than as a democracy.)

Benjamin Franklin actually feared that this mess would eventually happen in spite of the safeguards they gave us. Our dilemma therefore has nothing to do with the Framers’ supposed failure to anticipate any of our present abomination.

The overwhelming majority of our framers were conservative Christians who knew that the evils of human nature were potentially ruinous for our nation.

33 posted on 01/16/2016 11:55:26 AM PST by the_doc
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The American Founders and signers of the Constitution, despite their brilliance, failed to anticipate a Congress composed of corrupt wusses.


34 posted on 01/16/2016 12:04:27 PM PST by Arm_Bears (I'll have what the gentleman on the floor is drinking.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Maybe they couldn’t perceive a Congress that would give up its powers without a fight. One party makes secret promise to never call for a recount if fraud was prevalent in an election, they promise to do the people’s bidding only to cave tot he president, although I’d say that it doesn’t look to me like they are caving...that would infer there had been some sort of fight first. There never is one. What other secret deals have the republicans made with the democrats?


35 posted on 01/16/2016 12:11:34 PM PST by Shery (Pray for righteousness to be restored and for the peace of Jerusalem.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

and yet, we the people seem to have no standing on the issue.


36 posted on 01/16/2016 12:21:06 PM PST by Shery (Pray for righteousness to be restored and for the peace of Jerusalem.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Shery

Actually, I am not sure that our Founders/Framers would be terribly surprised at the mess that we are now in. They would be appalled and grieved, to be sure, but we are right now in the mess that they tried to block. They did everything they could—but we failed them for the very reasons that they feared in us. (See my post, above.)


37 posted on 01/16/2016 12:31:42 PM PST by the_doc
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The headline is correct, in fact it is a bit of an understatement, the founders might have hanged someone like him in the public square. On the other hand this, “The American Founders and signers of the Constitution, despite their brilliance, failed to anticipate a president who would take the law-making powers they had given solely to the peoples’ Congress into his own hands”, is bull dung. The founders didn’t fail to anticipate anything, what happened is the citizens turned as stupid as the village idiot and allowed Obama to happen. The founders gave clear warning, the most famous of which may have been by Thomas Jefferson saying that the tree of liberty must be occasionally nourished by the blood of tyrants and patriots.


38 posted on 01/16/2016 12:44:57 PM PST by RipSawyer (Racism is racism, regardless of the race of the racist.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

They would have coup d’etated his keister and shot him out of a cannon before the calendar hit February 2009.

But talk of impeaching Obama is not only pointless but counterproductive, he has at least 14 more Senators than he needs. The attempt would do nothing but help Hillary win.


39 posted on 01/16/2016 4:54:04 PM PST by Impy (They pull a knife, you pull a gun. That's the CHICAGO WAY, and that's how you beat the rats!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Junk Silver; Lurkinanloomin; PIF; laplata
I would go back much further than political party shenanigans.

The people foolishly amended the constitution in 1913 to allow taxation of income and to boot the states from the senate.

It is these two mistakes that set the stage for the New Deal, the Great Society and Obamunism.

The 16A and 17A are outrages that must be repealed before we can possibly return to free government.

The Uniparty will not reform DC; it is up to the sovereign people to once again reassert free government.

Article V before we can't.

40 posted on 01/17/2016 6:13:28 AM PST by Jacquerie ( To shun Article V is to embrace tyranny.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-42 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson