The Bush and Obama Administrations shredded the U.S. Constitution. They have the worst record in history. Granted, there were some pretty bad presidents. Presidents Woodrow Wilson, F.D.R., and Jimmy Carter make my list. But Bush and Obama are getting there. Obama’s three year record alone qualifies him for this title.
Let’s look at President George W. Bush. A man who ran on a humble foreign policy and who entered office with a $236 billion surplus, Bush left government in terrible shape. He left a $454.8 billion federal budget deficit. He also increased the U.S. debt from $5,943,438,563,436 to $10,699,804,864,612 or roughly an 89 percent change in debt. His fiscal irresponsibility occurred because of his unconstitutional policies.
Bush approved several fiscally irrational ideas. Bush accepted the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 which had a cost estimate of $1.2 trillion. This law expanded Medicare which is perceived by fiscal conservatives as a mortal sin. It expanded the scope of the Commerce Clause which allows Congress “To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes.” In no way does the Commerce Clause allow government to syphon more than a trillion dollars to increase healthcare coverage.
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq were also fiscally mismanaged and started by unconstitutional means. From 2001 to 2011, the war in Afghanistan totaled to $2.7 trillion while Iraq was $704.6 billion. It’s fair to say that President Bush mishandled most finances for both wars as Commander in Chief. It’s not just the mere price of war but the lack of Congressional Declaration of War. Article I Section 8 demands Congress “to declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water.” The last constitutionally approved war was World War II. Bush acted unconstitutionally as did his predecessors. Bush even violated the War Powers Act of 1973 which requires the President to ask for Congressional authorization of any military conflict after a two month timespan.
In addition, Bush created the biggest U.S. bureaucracy in history. The Department of Homeland Security is gigantic because it encompasses the Border and Transportation Security (BTS), Emergency Preparedness and Response (EPR), Science and Technology (S&T), Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP), and Management. Many other agencies report to the DHS such as the Coast Guard, U.S. Citizenship Service and Immigration Service, the Secret Service, and the Office of State and Local Coordination.
This federal power grab is far from constitutional. Even though the U.S. was under national security threat, this does not permit government enlargement. It’s not “Necessary and Proper.” Granted, the U.S. Congress is guaranteed “to make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or any Department or Officer thereof.” A homeland security threat is not an excuse for a gargantuan bureaucracy.
The Patriot Act is also hard to swallow for many conservatives. As Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul believes, the U.S. has to “guarantee our intelligence community’s efforts are directed toward legitimate threats and not spying on innocent Americans through unconstitutional power grabs like the Patriot Act.” He opposes the Patriot Act because of unconstitutional provisions that allow wiretapping American citizens without a warrant. As a result, the Patriot Act infringes the Fourth Amendment which protects “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”
Furthermore, Bush’s education policy was also unconstitutional. The enlargement of the Department of Education with No Child Left Behind violates the Tenth Amendment by taking sovereignty away from state and local municipalities. The Tenth is clear by stating that “the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.” Bush’s increase of the education budget by 64 percent denied the right of states to manage their education.
Last but not least, President Bush introduced the idea of bailing out bankrupt industries. He signed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 which provided $700 billion to bail out the financial industry. President Obama is known for bailing out car companies, Bush started the government overreach of the private sector which over extended the powers of the Commerce Clause.
Bush was too careless with the Constitution. He tripled the deficit, doubled the debt, increased the size of government with No Child Left Behind and the Department of Homeland Security, and engaged in unconstitutional wars. Who could do worse than Bush? President Barack Obama. He took Bush’s ideas and pretty much doubled down.
Starting with the automobile bailout, Obama granted $24.9 billion to GM, and Chrysler. The Constitution does not allow government to buy out a failed industry be it cars or financial mortgage lenders. The Commerce Clause was never meant to permit nationalizing industries. Obama went further with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Worth $787 billion, the Act enlarged the scope of the federal government and promised that the unemployment rate would not go above 8 percent. In fact, the CBO estimates that the unemployment rate will remain above 8 percent until 2014. Not only are these policies unconstitutional, but inefficient. Bush was bad, but Obama is Bush gone wild. He approved much more unneeded spending than Bush.
Then came Obamacare. This healthcare reform guaranteed more spending and more shredding of the Constitution. There is an individual mandate provision that forces Americans to buy healthcare or they are fined by the IRS. Like the new decision for mandated contraceptives to faith-based institutions like the Catholic Church, the Obama Administration violates the Commerce Clause and the First Amendment when limiting the religious practice of Catholic institutions. As the First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” The government is forcing the Catholic Church to accept contraception, therefore, violating this part of the Constitution.
Obama also tripled down the number of troops in Afghanistan. Bush started the war in Afghanistan, but now it’s Obama’s war to deal with. Yes, troops withdrew from Iraq, but Afghanistan is still a major priority for the military. What makes government think Afghanistan is winnable? It’s not. If the Soviets couldn’t win, then the U.S. can’t. This is not to say that the Soviets were much more powerful than the current U.S. military, but the Soviets had an obvious geographic advantage. This was a war started through unconstitutional means, and the Obama Administration massively deployed more troops to support it. Two wrongs don’t make a right.
What happened to government under the law? There are no laws that keep government in check. Today’s government couldn’t care less about the founding document. James Madison would be disgusted.
The U.S. needs a constitutional administration; one that is prudent and that governs by the law that our founding fathers gave us.
Alex Uzarowicz :: Knox College :: Galesburg, Illinois :: @AUzarowicz
Alex, We see this fallacy often regarding Operation Freedom, that Pres. Bush started the War by some sort of Executive Fiat or Order. The war was in fact declared by Congress and was done in regards to the Constitution on a procedural basis. But as for the wisdom of waging this war and the reasons for waging this war, that is entirely another matter.
Congress hasn’t DECLARED war since WW II. Passing a Resolution giving the President power to go to war sometime in the future (at his choosing) is not declaring war. Furthermore, the War Powers Act itself violates the Constitution and is thus null & void. Finally, did Bush even get such a Resolution from Congress? Frankly, I can’t remember. [It’s now 2015.] In any case, Congress never declared war.
Once you said there was a surplus you lied , you cannot have a true surplus if you owe trillions ,lets get real
Great article. I especially agree with the part about Medicare and No Child Left Behind under Bush. However, in this day and age I am more willing to accept an expansion of executive decision making powers and unconstitutional searches for foreign policy reasons, as technology has made response time even more crucial.
Here’s my one thought…while the Constitution is an essential document and obviously deserving of the utmost respect, isn’t it possible that aspects of it need to be updated or altered to fit the more complicated times we live in? Declaring something to be “Unconstitutional” is the same as political sin, but should it always be that way? Maybe America needs to look into new options. I’m not as well versed as you on this subject but I’m just curious as to what your thoughts are surrounding this concept. While I don’t agree with every topic you put forth I think this piece was very well done!
Exactly what part of the constitution would you consider obsolete? Consent of the governed? Rights endowed by a creator which are suppose to have been protected by the bill of rights? A balance of power designed to prevent one branch from becoming a ruling authority?
The constitution was carefully thought out so as to be everlasting. It was based on the premise that humans have a creator who has endowed them with unalienable rights. Progressives reject that premise. Progressives believe a ruling elite is required to maintain order and prevent chaos from a random act of evolution.
Woodrow Wilson said it best when he said the founders mistake was basing the constitution on Newtonian theory when it should have been based on Darwinian theory
Yes…Yes, but T. W. Wilson was wrong; Calvin Coolidge was right:
Calvin Coolidge on the Declaration of Independance: “If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, that is final.”
Yes, it’s not a bad piece with some flaws, but I agree more with Alex on the necessity of holding our government to fundamental principles. We should never devolve into a majoritarian or authoritarian state which is the way the US has been turning over the last 125 years. Remember that this Constitution of ours is not based upon the flavor of the day popular attitudes of a small faction of special interest, it was a culmination and distillation of knowledge and wisdom from the Hebrew Decalogue to Aristotle and Plato and Locke and Montesquieu, Burke and Smith. It was supported and honed by essays of Publius, Cato and Brutus. To think that one Executive or Legislature should be able to change it by a simple stroke of the pen to suit a special interest, whether it be a labor union or political action group or the in-thing of the day is absolutely decadent to protecting our free republic. For a full appreciation of this, you need to refer to the writings I mentioned.
Google: Justice Harlan Legislative Absolutism. In 1901, Harlan (in a dissenting opinion) warned of & coined the term, Legislative Absolutism. It means passing Laws that do not conform to the Constitution; that has been going on since 1901. It’s now 2015. As to your point, the Constitution has been “updated” many times times via the Constitutional Amendment process…but Congress hasn’t attempted that for quite awhile. It’s much easier to pass unconstitutional Laws. Congress has ignored the States’ call for an Article V Constitutional Convention…probably because the first item on the agenda would be a proposed Amendment for Congressional TERM LIMITS. Google: Friends of Article V Convention (I think it’s foavc.org). Finally, what I’m saying with all this is that at the highest we have an Outlaw Fed Gov’t. They have essentially shredded the Constitution. Violent revolt is not a sane solution, but things can be changed…not, however, by voting. Voting is a Rigged Game.
p.s. I’ve been a keen observer of American politics since 1956 (1956…that’s not a typo).
http://www.youtube.com/user/scotthaley12