In the article “Obama turning to executive power to get what he wants,” the McClatchy Newspapers reported that President Barack Obama is evading Congress “with a frequency that belies his original campaign criticisms of predecessor George W. Bush, invites criticisms that he’s bypassing the checks and balances of Congress and the courts and whets the appetite of liberal activists who want him to do even more to advance their goals.”
According to McClatchy, Obama “delayed the deportation of young illegal immigrants when Congress wouldn’t agree. He ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to research gun violence, which Congress halted nearly 15 years ago. He told the Justice Department to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act, deciding that the 1996 law defining marriage as between a man and a woman was unconstitutional. He’s vowed to act on his own if Congress didn’t pass policies to prepare for climate change.”
To conclude that Republican sheriffs thwarting a Democrat state Legislature in the same way a Democrat president is thwarting congressional Republicans is nothing more than well-deserved political sauce for the gander — as tempting as that might be — requires ignoring the evidence mounting across the country that public officials and private citizens are, with good reason, showing increasing disrespect for the rule of law. In fact, on most days you can find numerous reports of Americans disregarding laws because they’ve lost respect for the legislative process.
There were a couple letters to the editor this week in the Denver Post condemning the sheriffs who refuse to enforce the new laws. Probably make more money catching speeders.
Thomas Sowell: There are no solutions, just trade-offs.
