Neither Congress nor the American people have been adequately consulted about the two most pivotal changes to the nation in the last half century.
Unlike the major alterations to our national character in the past, which were the product of relatively open and public debate in Congress and the media, the keystone battles concerning the Affordable Care Act in 2010 and the current negotiations over the Trans-Pacific Partnership have been conducted, needlessly, behind closed doors.
It is difficult to find justification for secrecy in either. They do not involve information about military affairs that are vital to be kept from enemy hands, or competitive bidding procedures where some advantage to the taxpayers was to be gained by secrecy. Clearly, of course, Congress has some culpability in all this as well. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was never forced to say that the Affordable Care Act would have to be passed before we could see what was in it. And, certainly, now that Republicans have gained control of Congress, there is no reason to believe they must follow White House commands to keep the terms of the Trans-Pacific Trade pact, now under consideration, hidden from the public.
Despite Congressional acquiescence, the Obama White House has acted contemptuously of the legislative branch, openly stating that he “can’t wait” for Congress to act, and that if Congress doesn’t go along with his proposals he has “a pen and a phone” that he will use instead. The President has sought to ignore Congress by using executive orders and regulatory measures.
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The President’s relationship with the Supreme Court—and the Constitution– has been equally abrasive. His White House has been handed numerous defeats—including thirteen unanimous decisions—by the Supreme Court.
The Obama White House has sought to fundamentally reshape the federal government, at the expense of both individual rights, the authority of the legislative and judicial branches, and the powers of the states.
John Fund, writing in the National Review, has noted: “The tenure of both President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder has been marked by a dangerous push to legitimize a vast expansion of the power of the federal government that endangers the liberty and freedom of Americans. They have taken such extreme position on key issues that the Court has uncharacteristically slapped them down time and time again. Historically, the Justice Department has won about 70 percent of its cases before the high court. But in each of the last three terms, the Court has ruled against the administration a majority of the time. So even the liberal justices on the Court, including the two justices appointed by President Barack Obama — Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor — have disagreed with the DOJ’s positions. As George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin told the Washington Times last year, ‘When the administration loses significant cases in unanimous decisions and cannot even hold the votes of its own appointees . . . it is an indication that they adopted such an extreme position on the scope of federal power that even generally sympathetic judges could not even support it.’