Posted on 01/18/2016 7:12:48 PM PST by Isara
Some conservatives are concerned over Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump's vow to take the same path of bypassing Congress as President Barack Obama - even though the billionaire said his actions would be "much better" than Obama's and done for "the right things."
"Does Mr. Trump enjoy power? Is he more likely to prefer limited and constitutional or unlimited and unconstitutional power? Where is he likely to fall on that scale? I tend to think it's with the maximum possible exercise of power," Colin Hanna, president of the conservative public policy group Let Freedom Ring USA, told TheBlaze.
Trump, as president, might well use the executive powers to advance conservative causes, Hanna added, but he said there is more at stake.
"Every conservative at heart is a constitutionalist. The values are intertwined and inseparable for separation of powers and a limited federal government," Hanna said. "He might use executive power on issues we agree with. The point is, it isn't about the individual issues. It's a deeper and fundamental question."
President Barack Obama has used executive action most recently to restrict gun sales. Before that, he shielded about 5 million illegal immigrants from deportation and to delayed implementation of some of the most unpopular aspects of his own health care law. After last week's State of the Union address, White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough promised "audacious executive action" in the president's final 11 months.
During an interview with NBC News, Trump was asked if he would use executive actions in a similar fashion to the way President Barack Obama has.
"I won't refuse it. I'm going to do a lot of things. He led the way," Trump said. He added, "But I'm going to use them much better and they're going to serve a much better purpose than he's done."
In a separate interview with CBS News, Trump said of executive action, "Well, I will say this: There's a lot of precedent based on what he's doing."
"Conservatives have been angered at the Obama pen-and-phone approach to bypassing Congress; they should be equally disturbed at Trump for viewing Obama's unconstitutional power grabs as a model that he would follow," David McIntosh, the president of Club for Growth McIntosh, told TheBlaze.
Trump has soared in GOP primary polls despite his previous support for funding Planned Parenthood and abortion rights, favoring a single-payer health care system and for expanding the powers of government to seize private property among other liberal positions. This has come at the angst of many in the conservative movement.
"Donald Trump has already made it clear that he's like Obama in supporting single-payer health care, bailouts, and higher taxes," McIntosh said. "So, it's no surprise that Trump also wants to trash the Constitution by abusing executive power."
As a candidate for president, Trump has taken a conservative stance on illegal immigration and advocated cutting taxes, while he has considerably softened on his other liberal positions.
"He's aggressive not necessarily progressive," Hanna said. "His political philosophy is an appreciation of his own brilliance and that he can solve problems better than anyone else. He is not guided by a set of principles or a philosophy."
The Trump campaign did not respond to inquiries for this story last week or on Monday.
Former Bush administration Justice Department attorney John Yoo, now a law professor at University of California at Berkeley, warned in a Washington Post commentary that executive actions were intended for foreign policy, national security and emergencies - not domestic policy making.
He wrote that Obama's actions would encourage his success to move similarly. At least, Yoo wrote, that makes more of Obama's agenda reversible.
"Obama's upending of the Constitution's structure and limits may prove its own undoing," Yoo wrote. "The next chief executive can suspend, and then repeal, all of the executive orders and regulations of the past seven years. He or she could terminate the Iran nuclear deal and the climate change pact; reinstate enforcement of the immigration laws; and fully reveal Obamacare's distortions of health care. The further Obama stretches his powers to reach for a legacy, the more powerfully his successor can snap the Constitution back into its proper shape."
So essentially what you are saying is that the only way to save the constitution is to destroy the constitution? The way to keep the building from burning down is it set it on fire? I don't think I like that scenario. Now reversing EOs that were previously issued is fine, but this method proposed by Trump and you only makes the problem of an imperial presidency worse, not better.
I like how you didn’t answer me.
what do you expect to happen when we’re the only ones following the rules?
It’s madness. It doesn’t work. We’re bide by the constitution. They don’t. Who’s gonna come out ahead?
You might want to rephrase this...if you can...it sounds too much like a quote from someone after the passage of a certain bill and isn't reassuring sounding...LOL
Constitution is already scrapped. The left doesn’t abide by it.
Doesn’t work if only one side follows it.
Yikes this is scary. If we support Trump in this then we should ditch the name “Free Republic” as false advertising and replace it with something like “The Emperors Loyal Fan Club”
Then turn the other cheek.
So after the republic is destroyed and liberty gives way the the tyranny of a monarch, how will we rebuild? How long will it take to recover? After the Republic of Rome became an empire, liberty of Republican self government did not return in Europe for 800 years. Things to consider before we elect Cesar Trump.
I say we just go status quo. Elect an establishment candidate who will feed us bullshit lines and let us believe that we still have a govt who abides by the constitution. This country is too soft to deal with this problem the way it needs to be dealt with. With force. That’s the only way.
I am not going to participate in destroying the republic in the hopes of fixing it. If we do not abide by the Constitution and instead want a President to behave like an emperor who rules by decree than we are no better than the democrats.
Would you issue executive orders on topics allocated to Congress to undo BO’s illegal actions?
Ok so what would you do to right this ship?
You have to stay within the rules and they don’t.
So at this point we are only fighting for our share of the spoils. Got it.
That’s easy. I would issue executive orders saying that Obama’s executive orders are revoked because they were unconstitutional. I would have absolutely no problem doing that.
First, I would immediately rescind all of his unconstitutional executive orders. Then I would make the case directly to the American People and the Congress for the changes that need to be made with Congressional approval. I would fight hard and win some battles and probably find that I couldn’t do all I would like too, but I would not violate the constitution.
Then you would have to declare Martial Law.
The building is already burned down and reduced to ashes thanks to the feckless Republican opposition and the evil demodogs who placed political ideology above the law. The only part that still stands is the first and second amendment and only because the government is afraid of the people with guns. Liberals are afraid that law enforcement would not carry out orders
There are three outcomes to the current situation and none of them are pleasant.
1. The US ceases to exist and becomes a left wing dictatorship and rapidly balkanizes into three or four smaller nations
2. A civil war - possibly leading to Balkinization.
3. A president that is willing to use imperial powers to restore the Constitution through the use of EO. This will not be pretty and if it does not happen in 2016 then the only options that remain are 1 & 2.
It is the best option available thanks to the uni-party.
Or we could elect leaders that believe in the Constitutional limited government and separation of powers. We have candidates like that we can choose, but Trump is not one of them.
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