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"... nothing can stop me now, 'cause i'm the fuckin' duke of earl..."<br>
<br>
Emperor Obama<br>
by Sheldon Richman<br>
We were warned. “Who can deny but the president general will be a king
to all intents and<br>
purposes, and one of the most dangerous kind too; a king elected to
command a standing army....<br>
The President- general, who is to be our king after this government is
established, is vested with<br>
powers exceeding those of the most despotic monarch we know of in
modern times.... I challenge<br>
the politicians of the whole continent to find in any period of history
a monarch more<br>
absolute....”<br>
That was written by Benjamin Workman under the penname
“Philadelphiensis,” one of<br>
the Anti-Federalists who warned in 1787-88 that the proposed
Constitution would centralize<br>
power to an appalling degree, particularly in the executive branch.<br>
Now here’s President Barack Obama defending his unilateral military
intervention in the<br>
civil war raging in Libya (emphasis added):<br>
“Confronted by this brutal repression and a looming humanitarian
crisis, I ordered<br>
warships into the Mediterranean. European allies declared their
willingness to commit resources<br>
to stop the killing.... [At] my direction, America led an effort with
our allies at the United Nations<br>
Security Council to pass a historic resolution that authorized a no-fly
zone to stop the regime’s<br>
attacks from the air, and further authorized all necessary measures to
protect the Libyan people....<br>
We knew that if we wanted — if we waited one more day — Benghazi, a
city nearly the size of<br>
Charlotte, could suffer a massacre that would have reverberated across
the region and stained the<br>
conscience of the world.... I refused to let that happen. And so nine
days ago, after consulting the<br>
bipartisan leadership of Congress, I authorized military action to stop
the killing and enforce UN<br>
Security Council Resolution 1973.... [As] President, I refused to wait
for the images of slaughter<br>
and mass graves before taking action.... Of course, there is no
question that Libya — and the world<br>
— would be better off with Qaddafi out of power. I, along with many
other world leaders, have<br>
embraced that goal.... The task that I assigned our forces — to protect
the Libyan people from<br>
immediate danger, and to establish a no-fly zone — carries with it a UN
mandate and<br>
international support.”<br>
You see no reference to a congressional declaration of war or the
Constitution.<br>
Philadelphiensis and his compatriots would not have been surprised.
They saw early on that it<br>
wouldn’t take much for a president to become an emperor.<br>
Obama continued: “I’ve made it clear that I will never hesitate to use
our military swiftly,<br>
decisively, and unilaterally when necessary to defend our people, our
homeland, our allies, and<br>
our core interests.... But let us also remember that for generations,
we have done the hard work of<br>
protecting our own people, as well as millions around the globe. We
have done so because we<br>
know that our own future is safer, our own future is brighter, if more
of mankind can live with the<br>
bright light of freedom and dignity” (emphasis added).<br>
There in a nutshell is the imperial premise: Our future depends on the
condition of the rest<br>
of mankind. Therefore, the president may bomb or invade anywhere he
likes as long as he<br>
believes intervention is feasible. And as long as he can get the
U.S.-dominated NATO and UN<br>
Security Council on board. (NATO, incidentally, was never established
for such a purpose.)<br>
Obama’s touted “coalition” is cold comfort to those who realize that
freedom and fiscal<br>
moderation at home are jeopardized by a government run amok in the
world.<br>
Once upon a time, people actually believed that a president could not
constitutionally<br>
commit troops abroad without a declaration of war by Congress. With
some exceptions, that belief<br>
held presidents in check for a while. But it passed away sometime after
1942, and since then<br>
presidents have gone to war — big-time and small — whenever they damn
well pleased. Congress<br>
has simply been too timid to assert itself against imperial presidents.
After the undeclared<br>
Vietnam war disaster, a War Powers Resolution was passed in an attempt
to limit future<br>
presidents, but it was a pale substitute for the war-declaration
requirement — and besides,<br>
cowardly Congresses have never pushed to enforce the resolution.<br>
The Anti-Federalists saw it coming. We can’t say we weren’t warned.<br>
<br>
Sheldon Richman is senior fellow at The Future of Freedom Foundation,
author of Tethered<br>
Citizens: Time to Repeal the Welfare State, and editor of The Freeman
magazine. Visit his blog<br>
“Free Association” at <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.sheldonrichman.com">www.sheldonrichman.com</a>.</font>
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