To provide some expert and legal insight in support of my fears of the next Obama regime, let me quote some words from Thomas Sowell’s latest post at The American Spectator. Under the law governing ‘ObamaCare’, companies, unions and enterprises are subject to considerable additional costs. However, written into that legislation is the right of the President to waive such expenses as he sees fit! This contradicts the Constitution:
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution provides for "equal protection of the laws" for all Americans. To have a law that can cost an organization millions of dollars a year either apply or not apply, depending on the whim or political interest of the President of the United States, is to make a mockery of the rule of law.
Some of those companies who contributed heavily to Romney’s campaign can expect to feel the weight of the Federal government as ‘ObamaCare’ moves into full operation. Equally, those who contributed to Obama’s campaign . . . well, maybe they will not! Sowell has few doubts:
What does your right of freedom of speech mean if saying something that irritates the Obama administration means that you or your business has to pay huge amounts of money and get hit with all sorts of red tape under ObamaCare that your competitor is exempted from, because your competitor either kept quiet or praised the Obama administration or donated to its reelection campaign?
Arbitrary Obamacare waivers are bad enough by themselves. They are truly ominous as part of a more general practice of this administration to create arbitrary powers that permit them to walk roughshod over the basic rights of the American people.
So what other arbitrary powers can the new regime turn to use? Read ‘em and weep:
You do not have a self-governing people when huge laws are passed too fast for the public to even know what is in them.
You do not have a self-governing people when "czars" are created by Executive Orders, so that individuals wielding vast powers equal to, or greater than, the powers of Cabinet members do not have to be vetted and confirmed by the people's elected representatives in the Senate, as Cabinet members must be.
You do not have a self-governing people when decisions to take military action are referred to the United Nations and the Arab League, but not to the Congress of the United States, elected by the American people, whose blood and treasure are squandered.
You do not have a self-governing people when a so-called "consumer protection" agency is created to be financed by the unelected officials of the Federal Reserve System, which can create its own money out of thin air, instead of being financed by appropriations voted by elected members of Congress who have to justify their priorities and trade-offs to the taxpaying public.
You do not have a self-governing people when laws passed by the Congress, signed by previous Presidents, and approved by the federal courts, can have the current President waive whatever sections he does not like, and refuse to enforce those sections, despite his oath to see that the laws are faithfully executed.
All these things have already happened so now the way is free for the apparatchiks to push them even harder and further. ‘First they came for the small businessman … then they came for the Corporates …’ and so on ad nauseam.