DECEMBER 27, 1999
Abuse of power as art form
© 1999 WorldNetDaily.com

I have successfully repressed the temptation to do what everyone else no doubt will do this week and revisit the past year and/or century. Despite the visceral satisfaction of recounting stories and issues the new media has dragged into the disinfectant sunlight (kicking and screaming despite the mainstream media's continued malfeasance), I refuse to rise to the bait.

Routinely and predictably, the attention of the masses has been distracted by threats "real and promulgated" pretty much as standing operating procedure for this corrupt, venial administration. Currently (in the wake of months of pooh-poohing warnings from WorldNetDaily and elsewhere) the latest implied threat is Y2K. Well, not really Y2K, but the tangential terrorists (foreign and domestic) which may seek to use Y2K as a catalyst for doing bad disruptive stuff.

Everyone is focused on terrorists sneaking into the country, and we are assured our government can prevent those unlawful entries. Sure, just look at the superb job our government has done in prohibiting illegal aliens from entering the country. Meanwhile as national attention is directed to the borders (too little and too late), desperately seek Osama bin Laden or Jane Doe No. 96, our president is doing what he does best -- abusing power under the color of authority.

The commander in sleaze has recently fired off a flurry of executive decisions. He has not been the No. 1 issuer of executive orders, but he seems to playing catch up to exceed President Ronald Reagan's 381 executive orders in two terms. So far Billy-Jeff has cranked out over 310 in seven years. However, the mere number of executive orders is less significant than the substance and intent of this abuse of power.

The framers established a republic, which consisted of three co-equal branches of government: executive; legislative; and judiciary. For a variety of reasons ranging from inertia, to malfeasance, and taking a left turn to hubris, the executive branch has assumed a position more equal that the other two branches. This current president, more so than others, has found, and used, "creative" ways to implement his policy without that annoying requirement of congressional approval.

Others before him have used executive orders as often or more than Clinton. However, Billy-Jeff has turned an administrative tool into an art form for abuse of power. According to University of Wisconsin political scientist Ken Mayer, "he has turned other tools at his disposal -- such as presidential proclamations and cabinet directives -- into true policy-making instruments,"

Republicans are especially PO'd (no, that doesn't mean "particularly ornery"). They are incensed by what they see as an end run around Congress. By the way, the reason they think the president's actions are an "end run around Congress" is because it IS. Sen. James Inhofe has announced he would block every administration nominee to the federal bench for the rest of Mr. Clinton's term to protest the recent reappointment of a member of the National Labor Relations Board without the Senate's consent. Presidential wannabe Sen. John McCain has promised to overturn Clinton's ban on new wilderness roads. Oddly, it was another wannabe GOP hopeful who hit the nail on the head. Gary Bauer encapsulated it by noting, "This president has abused that power."

Why are folks just now getting hip to the unbridled abuse of power of Bill Clinton?

Some folks are finally starting to get a feel for what he meant by the "and more things like that..."

An anonymous author once wrote, "Patriots are not revolutionaries trying to overthrow government. Patriots are counter-revolutionaries trying to prevent government from overthrowing the U.S. Constitution."