Posted on 04/18/2015 6:22:39 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
As the Framers knew, we are unlikely to outgrow human nature. So what happens when we decide we’ve outgrown a Constitution designed to protect us from human nature’s foibles?
The question arises, yet again, thanks to Senator Bob Corker. The Tennessee Republican, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, is author — along with Robert Menendez (D., N.J.) and Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) — of a ballyhooed bipartisan bill that is being touted as the derailment of President Obama’s plan to trample congressional prerogatives en route to a calamitous “deal” that will facilitate jihadist Iran’s nuclear-weapons ambitions. (I use scare-quotes because the so-called deal is still a work in regress.)
So guess who now supports this stalwart congressional resistance to our imperial president? Why none other than . . . yes . . . Barack Obama!
You think maybe, just maybe, the Corker bill isn’t quite what it’s cracked up to be?
You’d be right. When you read the legislation, it becomes apparent that Senator Corker is simply channeling his inner Mitch McConnell.
Back in 2011, the Senate’s then-minority leader was flummoxed by the national debt. No, not by its enormous size. Afraid of being lambasted by the media for slowing the gravy train, he wanted to help Obama raise the debt by many additional trillions of dollars; but equally fearing the wrath of those who’d elected him precisely to slow the gravy train, he wanted to appear as a staunch opponent of such profligacy.
Senator McConnell’s problem was that meddlesome Constitution. On the theory that government borrowing and spending are best controlled by the elected officials most directly accountable to the taxpayers who foot the bill, the Constitution gives Congress, not the president, ultimate power over the debt.
This is inconsistent, of course, with a scheme to impose more crushing debt on the country without being held accountable for it. Consequently, the Constitution was thrown overboard.
McConnell and other GOP leaders hatched a plan under which Obama would appear to raise the debt unilaterally. Congress could then respond with a “resolution of disapproval.” As McConnell knew, either Democrats would defeat the resolution or Obama would veto it. That was $4 trillion ago. McConnell’s chicanery gave big-spending Republicans a windfall: They succeeded in extending our tapped-out country’s credit line but still managed to vote against the extension — i.e., they could tell the voters back home that they opposed something that actually could not have happened without their support.
American taxpayers did not fare quite as well. We are now on the hook for $18 trillion, soon to be several trillion more. If, as is inevitable, interest rates begin to approach modest historical norms, the government’s budget will be consumed by debt service. Our nation, having taken on lavish obligations of social welfare and global defense, will face a crisis that is at least transformative, if not existential.
A nuclear Iran would be a threat that is similarly transformative. To know that, we need only listen to the White House tut-tutting about how “unrealistic” it would be to expect the mullahs to renounce their support for terrorism in exchange for sanctions relief. In Washington, you see, insisting that Iran act like a normal country is nutter stuff, but trusting Iran to enrich uranium only for peaceful purposes is totally logical.
So Beltway Republicans are ready to put up a fight, right? About as much of a fight, it seems, as they were ready to make against mounting debt.
Cravenly elevating their own political interest over the national interest, many on the GOP side of the political class calculate that it is more important to avoid blame for frustrating Obama — this time, on his delusional Iran deal — than to succeed in actually frustrating Obama. But alas, that annoying Constitution is again an obstacle to shirking accountability. It does not empower the president to make binding agreements with foreign countries all on his own — on the theory that the American people should not take on enforceable international obligations or see their sovereignty compromised absent approval by the elected representatives most directly accountable to them.
Thus, the Constitution mandates that no international agreement can be binding unless it achieves either of two forms of congressional endorsement: a) super-majority approval by two-thirds of the Senate (i.e., 67 aye votes), or b) enactment through the normal legislative process, meaning passage by both chambers under their burdensome rules, then signature by the president.
The Corker bill is a ploy to circumvent this constitutional roadblock. That is why our post-sovereign, post-constitutional president has warmed to it.
Because it would require the president to submit any Iran deal to Congress, it is drawing plaudits for toughness. But like McConnell’s debt legerdemain, it’s a con job. Once the deal is submitted, Congress would have 60 days (or perhaps as few as 30 days) to act. If within that period both houses of Congress failed to enact a resolution of disapproval, the agreement would be deemed legally binding — meaning that the sanctions the Iranian regime is chafing under would be lifted.
As Corker, other Republican leaders, and the president well know, passage of a resolution of disapproval — even if assured in the House with its commanding Republican majority — could be blocked by the familiar, lockstep parliamentary maneuvering of just 40 Senate Democrats. More significantly, even if enacted in the Senate, the resolution would be vetoed by Obama. As with the resolutions of disapproval on debt increases, it is nearly inconceivable that Obama’s veto would be overridden.
To summarize, the Constitution puts the onus on the president to find 67 Senate votes to approve an international agreement, making it virtually impossible to ratify an ill-advised deal. The Corker bill puts the onus on Congress to muster 67 votes to block an agreement.
Under the Constitution, Obama’s Iran deal would not have a prayer. Under the Corker bill, it would sail through. And once again, it would be Republicans first ensuring that self-destruction is imposed on us, then striking the pose of dogged opponents by casting futile nay votes.
This is not how our system works. Congress is supposed to make the laws we live under. It is the first branch of government, not a rubber-stamping Supreme Soviet.
We seem to have forgotten that the point of the Constitution is not to accomplish great things; it is to prevent government from doing overbearing or destructive things. The achievement of great things was left to the genius and ambition of free people confronting challenges without stifling constraints.
The Constitution’s constraints can indeed be stifling. Quite intentionally so: They are there to prevent legacy-hunting ideologues and feckless fixers from rolling the dice with our lives.
That a lawless president would undertake to eviscerate these constraints is to be expected. But is he really much worse than an entrenched political class that anxiously forfeits its powers to stop him?
— Andrew C. McCarthy is a policy fellow at the National Review Institute. His latest book is Faithless Execution: Building the Political Case for Obama’s Impeachment.
GOPe enablers.
On November 4, 2008, the voting public, a/k/a, “the people” said, “To hell with the Constitution, we want to be ruled by our god, one barrack Obama.” On November 6, 2014, to dispel any doubts that this was their wish, they reaffirmed that choice. So here we are. Except when is serves their purpose[s] we are no longer governed by the Constitution.
Corker is a traitorous weasel.
It’s not just Corkers bill.
He’s just the designated hitter.
But he and Hoeven are the chosen sleazballs who carry this garbage.
Tells you all you need to know about him.
We have not outgrown the Constitution. We have just stopped abiding by it. The constitutional remedy for an out of control treasonous President is impeachment. The Congress does not have the guts or the votes to impeach so they are now trying to pass a contorted piece of legislation to stop a guy who should have been removed from office a year or more ago.
Senator Questionaire
...Please print up on paper stock heavier than 20 lbs as one page front and back using body copy as your master. Encircle or underline your preferences marked off in ( parenthesis ) .Personally sign and date it. Fold into a size that fits into a business sized envelope and insert it into business sized envelope Personally addressed with above address with your return name and address on it. Or if printed on heavier paper than 20 lbs seal both side ends with scotch tape sign stamp it and mail ;
stamp
from
To
United States Senator
Senate Office Building
Washington DC 20510
Dear Senator
We are tired of bills are not being read and billion$ and trillion$ of dollars in legislation called omnibus bills get passed. Fundings then get shoveled into agencies with the results being government intrusion as well as its employees that grow into our lives regulating US how we; eat, sleep, pray, get married , and think.. This questionaire contains opinions with positions voters feel you should have or be taking concerning the course this country should be heading. It has been freely distributed and not directed to a selected demographic to produce a given result..
Should Senator vote no on any such 1000 page or more Omnibus funding bills of extended duration beyond 60 days if congress doesn’t do it’s job and consider (read) what it’s passing? (Yes) or (NO) ? If he votes no the socialists will scream “government shutdown”. Will you still support him? (Y) (N) (Maybe). Should Obama care be (fixed) or (dumped) And if he votes to fix and not dump it will you support him for another term (YES) or (NO)?
EPA...This agency is out of control INS....Immigration out of control IRS...Out of Control
The people who head these agencies get approved by the senate and swear an oath to support the constitution not the executive branch or the president.
Should he support Senate hearings ? Investigating their funding and operation (Y)(N)
If such officers are found guilty of abusing or exceeding their legislative authorization .
Should he support their encircle which ( censure) (impeachment) (defunding)...If he/she refuses to do so will you still support him in 2016 (Yes) or (No)
EPA Own waterfront property? You can’t clear your waterfront jungle. Pay more for the b/s in your gas & idiot lites in your car. Watch what you flush because higher electric bills will save the world and the bankrupt campaign contributers in the solar industry.
It is time to reign in EPA Funding? (Y)(N)
INS...Amnesty.. Forget about Ebola
We don’t allow cattle to enter without a background health and ancestry check which we also reqiure of legal immigrants who wait years and still go thru health and record checks. We also require that any legal immingrant demonstrate prior to entry that they offer a contribution to our society and not dependency upon it .
Yet we’re letting children and gang bangers in without doing any of this which has resulted in dispersing virulent new diseases (measles) and drug use which has resulted in unreported cases in schools where these illegal kids were placed.. Plus shoved a severe financial strain on local governments where they are placed .
.Should those given this bypassed favored treatment who miss their INS hearing be deported fortwith ? (Y) (N).. Should that apply to convicted felons ? (Y) (N) Denied re-entry (Y)(N) ? Should any candidate for Attorney General supporting that practice be denied confirmation ?(Yes) (No) . Should the senate reject any such candidate to be Attorney General by if needed setting aside the 60 vote majority and applying the simple majority Reid rule citing the Hanen court injunction ruling that would restrict the use of the Reid rule to use only when such a ruling by the court is made ? (Yes) (No)
In “countries where an American citizen decides to be a “legal” emigree never mind being a seasonal visitor still are denied voting privledges. Own land in their own name. Face steep fines before getting kicked out let alone denied income and energy subsistance including food stamps, or bring in family members .
I (do) (don’t) believe we should allow such full citizenship privledges mentioned above which are denied by the country of national origin of the above, to a legal American immigrant , deny such full citizen privledges to any (emigree) (seasonal vistor) (illegal) if their country does not allow those same privledges to any citizen of the United States living in that country.
While such a position will be condemed as defacto deportation particularly by the political establishment .Would you continue to support a Senator who refuses to support such restrictions ? (Y) (N) Does that also include erecting border barriers such as fencing designed to discourage surrepticious or uncontolled entry ? (Yes) (No)
Should any American citizen which goes overseas to join a foreign entity fighting against the United States (such as ISIS) Be denied re-entry (Y)(N) and their citizenship revoked? (Y) (N) Should that person be charged with treason (Y)(N)
Very Truly Yours imploring for Restoring the value of American citizenship and Constitutional Government
place return address label below along with signature and date
find your senators address and center it in that spot if you wish to use it as a self contained mailer. Otherwise stuff it into a business sized envelope after printing it up and filling it out. BTW print up a bunch and pass em around.
The Demonicrats commit treason every time they steal oxygen.
Sadly, the Republicans are descending to the same level as the Demonicrats, and can no longer be given the benefit of the doubt when they speak.
Any claim by any Republican must be treated as a potentially lie until sufficient independent evidence confirms their words as truthful.
Does Corker’s bill apply ONLY to the iran deal? If it applies to other possible international treaties, then imagine what UN treaties Obama will create in the next two years! Goodbye 2nd amendment. Hello more climate change regs also.
The "ONE PARTY" system continues it's ongoing presentation of Kabuki theater to the American public.
BTTT!
Thomas Jefferson had seen this situation coming.
"In every event, I would rather construe so narrowly as to oblige the nation to amend, and thus declare what powers they would agree to yield, than too broadly, and indeed, so broadly as to enable the executive and the Senate to do things which the Constitution forbids." --Thomas Jefferson: The Anas, 1793.
Although Obama needs to be charged with treason imo, let’s stop blaming everything on Obama. The corrupt, popularly elected Senate has been the enabler of corrupt presidents for many generations imo.
The 17th Amendment needs to disappear.
the bill isn’t signed yet so the Senate needs to pull it. The fraud in the WH said he will sign it and that in and of itself reveals the bill is bad for the American people. The Senate and the Congress have the Constitution, they do not need that bill, they only need to honor their oath of office.
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