Dictatorship?

Published 8:00 am Tuesday, October 29, 2013

What is our current form of government?  I know that some believe we live in a democracy, but that is not true.  Technically we live in a democratic republic, a country whose government derives its power from the people, but the process of governing is done by a group of people in an open forum.  Specifically the affairs of state are a public matter.

We definitely do not have a monarchy, no crown and no throne.  We likewise don’t have an emperor because technically the 50 states are not an empire.

The Senate in ancient Rome could appoint a special leader as the head of a state that was in trouble.  The appointed head of state was called a dictator.  Lets see, the Senate appoints and gives special power to a single individual who has total control over the state.  Sound familiar?

How does that apply to our country?   By law we have a divided government with legislative, executive and judicial branches.  The intent of that form of government was to place limits on each branch that would prevent them from usurping the God given natural rights of the citizens that elected those that governed.  Our government is by design or was a limited government.  

We have a leader who, with the consent of the leader of the senate, has derived the power to circumvent our constitutional form of government.  Obama instead of receiving direction from the house and senate dictates to a senate leader that has shut down the constitutional legislative process.  What Obama does not like he just ignores.  

The house is by law to set fiscal policy for our country.  The house is to pass bills that establish taxes and to set the budget for the country.  A president that follows the constitution should administer the government inside the constraints placed the executive branch by the legislative body, the house and senate.  The House and Senate also have an oversight roll.  They have the power to ensure the executive branch implements law as written.

Obama has turned that upside down. He has, with the consent and support of Senate majority leader,Harry Reid, shut down the budgetary and oversight process.  Rather than a government of laws, we are becoming a country of ruled by regulation, regulation written by the Executive branch.  Taxing authority is now exercised by the regulatory agencies in the guise of fees and penalties.  We have substituted continuing resolutions for the budgetary process, which is currently controlled by the Senate.

Senator’s votes are bought with pork packages that are imbedded in the continuing resolution bills.  The president, our dictator, tells the Senate what he will accept and if the bills do not meet Obama’s desires, he shuts down the government he has swore to protect and defend.  Those actions that defy the constitutional structure, usurping power that is not given to the executive branch by law, represent the actions of a dictator, a person that is dictating how the country will function.  

Whether Obama has placed himself and his administration above the law is not even debatable.  We have had a series of illegal activities committed by his administration, “Fast and Furious,” the IRS scandals, and many other lesser activities.  We have seen a continuing list of fiscal activities that are very suspicious, such as the Green Power development programs that are fraught with financial transactions that should be scrutinized but haven’t been.  

There has been enough suspicious activity between Wall Street and the White House to keep an army of conspiracy writers busy for the next century.  The more you look at the entire activity of the Executive branch, the worse it smells. 

For the citizens to claim that we have a Republic is ridiculous.  There is very little open to public scrutiny.  The Executive branch does not respond with openness to the House or Senate.  

It would appear that our government does not meet the definition of a Republic; it is not responsive to the citizenry, and hence does not appear to be a Democratic Republic.  Since we have one person telling all of us what to do, with the permission of the senate, implies that our government must be a dictatorship.