The Executive Order Controversy

American Thinker ^ | 20 mar 2012 | Joe Herring

[rellimpank]

On Friday, 3/16/2012, President Obama issued an executive order called "National Defense Resources Preparedness" (NDRP), posting it on the White House's official website.

Almost immediately, the blogosphere exploded with the news. Citizens began calling their TV stations, radio stations, and newspapers, demanding coverage. At the time of this writing, the furor has yet to abate.

The NDRP traces its origin to the Defense Production Act (DPA) of 1950, which attempted to establish a framework for placing the nation on a "war footing" as quickly and in as efficient a manner as possible should events warrant. In an age of highly industrialized warfare, the basic building blocks of military success are composed of mundane elements such as supply chains, resource availability, parts, access to raw materials, and skilled labor.

Over the years, the DPA has seen many revisions, and the executive orders issued to implement those revisions presupposed an imminent threat of war. In 1994, then-President Clinton issued Executive Order 12919, which expanded the provisions of the DPA rather dramatically, declaring its applicability to peacetime.

The need for the DPA is legitimate. A great deal of our energy infrastructure, utilities, and financial system are in fact entirely private enterprises, not public/government entities. Getting the government running again in the event of a catastrophic attack is one thing, but not providing the same reconstitution effort for the privately owned elements of the nation's infrastructure would still leave us without electric power generation, food distribution, etc.

In the event of cataclysmic war or a natural disaster of similar scope, we could not afford to wait on the private sector to recover at an ordinary pace with purely private funds. Under such circumstances, the need would be urgent and the resources few.

[tomkat]

Judging by the excerpt, this guy's just another apologist.

Nothing to see here, just move along folks .. and that's an order

[rellimpank]

—you might try reading the article-—

[greatvikingone]

I disagree that the DPA is legitimate. We do not need the government up and running quickly, we do not need to worry about the private sector getting energy quickly.

[mongo141]

Just another step by that big eared Socialist $%(&##@! towards total and complete power (Think of Stalin) for example or Hitler they always declare a benign reason “Public Benefit” “its for the children”, Blah, Blah and soon you are slave or servant! Gag

[freekitty]

People might try treating Obama as the joke and loser he is. He is not our real POTUS. He got there by cheating. He needs to be in jail. No one knows who he he is; but I will bet he is not legitimate. We should not obey anything he fakely puts into law because he is a fake.

[Georgia Girl 2]

This thing was unconstitutional in 1950 and its unconstitional now. In a time of emergency disaster not only can the individual governors of the states declare martial law but the congress can give a temporary approval to the President for martial law with a time frame attached. The EO whch was revised and signed by BHO the other day is just a vehicle for a coup. Barry would be doing this unless he planned to use it. I advise everyone to prepare accordingly.

[BitWielder1]

There is one thing having contingency plans in case of a crisis, it is another thing to have an administration who is likely to create a crisis in order to activate those plans.

[tomkat]

Yep, color my #2 retracted, as he does come around to the prudent stance in the end.

Having said that: Judging by the excerpt, my original take was not unreasonable.

[Triple]

AFIAK - The USA has been in a declared “state of emergency” continuously since about 1935.

The rules may have changed in the last few years, but it used to required to be published annually in the federal register as a numbered executive order. I believe the numbering requirement was softened, but is still has to make the federal register.

I am open to correction/updating of the actual requirement. (It has been several years since I paid close attention to this topic.)

[RC2]

It amazes me that we allow someone that has no idea what he is doing....or maybe he does.....to come out with an EO like this. We’ve come a long way baby. We’ve gone from the most free people on the earth, the most powerful nation on earth, the most prosperous nation on earth to this. We are very close to a dictatorship by this administration and his czars. Congress needs to throw this EO out the door and make this a lame duck administration and do it now. Cut the legs out from under this guy.

[An American!]

"Nothing to see here, just move along folks"

Sorry...but there is something to see here. This is another step down the crazy path that Ronald Reagan so wisely saw and warned of way back in 1964 in his speech, "A Time For Choosing"

Here is a relevant snippet from http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/ronaldreaganatimeforchoosing.htm

"Well, I, for one, resent it when a representative of the people refers to you and me, the free men and women of this country, as "the masses." This is a term we haven't applied to ourselves in America. But beyond that, "the full power of centralized government" -- this was the very thing the Founding Fathers sought to minimize. They knew that governments don't control things. A government can't control the economy without controlling people. And they know when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. They also knew, those Founding Fathers, that outside of its legitimate functions, government does nothing as well or as economically as the private sector of the economy."

"We have so many people who can't see a fat man standing beside a thin one without coming to the conclusion the fat man got that way by taking advantage of the thin one. So they're going to solve all the problems of human misery through government and government planning. Well, now, if government planning and welfare had the answer -- and they've had almost 30 years of it -- shouldn't we expect government to read the score to us once in a while? Shouldn't they be telling us about the decline each year in the number of people needing help? The reduction in the need for public housing?"

[Old Sarge]

From the article:

The timing of this executive order is jarring, even if the specific changes to the order are not. The power it conveys is staggering and cannot be safely entrusted to a single branch of government, much less to a single man. The Congress needs to reassert control over the exercise and implementation of the Defense Production Act before it can be utilized by a power-hungry cabal of Leftists eager to fundamentally transform America.

[SaraJohnson]

That is what is unsettling about this. The elite, on both sides are against the old-fashioned constituion now. In the past the majority of Americans could be trusted to torpedo any effort of a President to move into a dicatorship.

But now that the Left has taken over education and excluded “white history” and flooded the nation with committed and racist third world foreigners (which Leftist train to be that way), we can all see global fascist/Marxist elitists going for a National and/or global dictatorship in the name of “terrorism” or “climate change.” They are truly ignorant and amoral people.

What we could somewhat blow off in the past, is no longer possible. Our elitie are indoctrinated to be treasonous.

[tomkat]

I assumed there was enough sarcasm dripping that </s> wasn't necessary.

I do, of course, share your alarm.
To the degree that we'll end up with cw², truth be told.

[rellimpank]

—that summation was why I posted it—

[Lionheartusa1]

Post #7

1)Occupy Wallstreeters riot this summer thru the early fall .

2)Usurper in chief invokes Martial Law .

3)Usurper suspends Nov. election .

4)General Anarchy and increased violence .

5)Usurper uses National Defense Resources Prep. to take over all resources indefinitely including privately owned manufacturing and other large consumer businesses.

6)Economy collapses and the Socialist/Communist coup is firmly in place .

7)All this is done while Congress sits on their thumbs .

8) Goodbye America as we knew it .

,,,,,, OK ,,, sounds far fetched and perhaps the military will not cooperate in order to achieve the usurpers goals but I do believe this is his plan and that's why he has granted himself these tyrannical powers ..

[Georgia Girl 2]

It would not suprise me if he tries it.