Circumventing Process in Politics is Not Wise

Anyone who has read this blog over the years knows that one of the things I despise most about nation state politics is the rank hypocrisy and the law of the political jungle that states, "It's wrong for the other side to do it, but it's OK if we do it." One of the reasons this blog exists is to be an equal opportunity annoyer to both sides of the political aisle. Well, Henry Neufeld is spot on in this post he wrote yesterday!
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Practically every national election I've voted in has featured concerns about increasing executive power. In the modern era, the power to make war has been a particularly strong example of a shift of power toward the executive, with the powers of the commander-in-chief stretched past the limit, in my view. Yes, war happens faster, but rather than taking up their responsibility and finding a way to authorize (or not) actions more rapidly, congress has generally let the power to declare war slip away from them. But that's just an example.

McClatchy has an article, Obama turning to executive power to get what he wants, and it illustrates how similar President Obama is to President Bush....

Arguably more than any other president in modern history, he's using executive actions, primarily orders, to bypass or pressure a Congress where the opposition Republicans can block any proposal.

Now that Obama has showed a willingness to use those tactics, advocacy groups, supporters and even members of Congress are lobbying him to do so more and more.

Undoubtedly, some of these same groups would have been up in arms if President Bush carried out some of the same sorts of actions as they are now, and rightfully so. In fact, many groups were, quite correctly, critical of Bush for abusing executive power, particularly, signing statements.
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Yes, indeed... in politics it's SSDD (Same "Stuff" Different Day).

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/03/19/186309/obama-turning-to-executive-power.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/03/19/186309/obama-tUndoubtedly, some of these same groups would have been up in arms if President Bush carried out some of the same sorts of actions as they are now, and rightfully so. In fact, many groups were, quite correctly, critical of Bush for abusing executive power, particularlyurning-Undoubtedly, some of these same groups would have been up in arms if President Bush carried out some of the same sorts of actions as they are now, and rightfully so. In fact, many groups were, quite correctly, critical of Bush for abusing executive power, particularlyt-executive-power.html#storylink=cpy