A Case For Impeachment of President Obama--Libya, Syria, and the War Powers Resolution

I will attempt to lay out a case for the impeachment of our 44^th President that, had the Congress any integrity at all, would surely result in the filing of Articles of Impeachment and likely a successful conviction in the Senate. I will also make a brief argument for the timing of this, should Boehner grow a pair.

A couple disclaimers up front: I am not a lawyer, nor what most people would recognize as a “scholar” of the Constitution—i.e. I do not have a degree in Government or Law, with an emphasis on the Constitution. What I do have is a pretty good grasp of political philosophy and philosophy in general, which is certainly adequate for an understanding of the Constitution as intended by Madison and the other framers. I will not be seriously entertaining penumbras and other such perversions of the original language as understood at the time of passage of the Constitution or the relevant Amendments.

Two relevant links here. This is the full text of the U.S. Constitution and here is the text of the War Powers Resolution (sometimes also called the War Powers Act).

It is also important to note that the Constitutionality of the War Powers Resolution is itself an open question.

Okay, enough with the pre-game, on to the matter at hand.

Culture Wars, Part I--Where We First Went Wrong

In the ongoing culture wars, conservatives continue to be routed by liberals.  The recent election proves this, where a slim majority reelected a man--Barack Obama--who has made negative net progress on the economy in the past four years over a man--Mitt Romney--who has rebuilt numerous now-successful businesses.  Now, we could argue a great deal about who on the Right is to blame for this specific failure, but the truth is that it is all of us.  We have ceded the entire war on culture and values in the name of political correctness.  To be sure, other elements are in play--which I hope to discuss later--but we have failed the Founding Fathers.

We have allowed separation of church and state to be twisted to mean virtual banishment of religion, especially Christianity, from the public sphere.  We have failed to inculcate entire generations with mores and norms that were a given for centuries in Western Civilization.  How many children or young adults can describe the framework or the meanings of even a fraction of Aesop's fables?  Would they see the ant as a horrible villain and the grasshopper as oppressed, or would they even understand that so much of the current culture encourages them to become grasshoppers?  Would they jeer the mouse for removing the thorn from the lion's paw?  What about other former cultural touchstones?  Would they understand Hansel and Gretel is an object lesson on poor planning and disobeying one's parents, or would they decry the violence of the story as too toxic for children?  Would they understand the parable of the prodigal son as the love of a father (and God) for his child, or see it as a template for endless largess for the wealthy to the poor, even if one is poor after having squandered his own wealth so foolishly?
This is the first post in a series on this topic.  Next will be Culture Wars, Part II--Schools and Socialism.

Executive Privilege and Fast and Furious

With all due respect to the offices of Attorney General of the United States and President of the United States;

Mr. Holder, President Obama, the two of you are a disgrace to this country, and anything short of impeachment and a criminal trial is too good for you.

Executive privilege has been asserted by the Obama administration in response to multiple subpoenas from the Congressional Oversight Committee regarding documents from the program known as Fast and Furious.  In case the reader has not been following this story, it is the operation run by the Department of Justice through the ATF that involved selling guns to known straw purchasers (illegal gun buyers) who would then sell or otherwise provide these weapons to the Mexican drug cartels.  Another brief summary of the particulars of the operation can be found in this post by Dedicated Tenther.  As a bonus, that link contains DT's thoughts on what should happen to those responsible.

Why Wisconsin Matters

I will try not to echo here what has been said in other parts of the blogosphere regarding Walker's victory in the recall effort yesterday in Wisconsin.  I do think that there is much truth in the notion that this election is more important than the Presidential election this November.  I have listed before my reasons why a conservative victory in November is critical, especially with regard to upcoming Supreme Court vacancies.  In terms of what Joe Public will see and hear and be conscious of, Romney versus Obama will be the story of the year.

However, in terms of a true shockwave to the American political system, Walker's victory likely heralds a sea-change.

The die is cast

With the results of the most recent primaries in the books and Gingrich (unsurprisingly) supsending his campaign, the GOP primary is essntially a fait accompli, and we can get to the 6 1/2 month slugfest that is the general election.

I admit that I had many resevations about Mitt Romney, and that I still have some.  He is not the second coming of Reagan, he is not what I hope to have with Rick Perry, but he is the nominee.  Romney is not as conservative as I would like (or as Ann Coulter has been screeching from her blog for the last 4 months), but neither is he as moderate as many feared, and he has already shown a willingness to go after Obama aggressively.  There will be no McCain style, "my good friend," kid-glove treatment from the Romney campaign.

Newt Gingrich said earlier today that while he personally believes he would have been the better candidate, that even he must unite behind Romney and that defeating Obama MUST be the priority.  I would add that almost as critical is securing a majority in the Senate.  It's going to take serious work from both branches to undo the damage from the past 4 years.  There's also the minor matter of possibly as many as four Supreme Court appointments coming up in the next term, and a court packed with liberal justices for the next few decades could do tremendous harm to this country.

I will not get needlessly dramatic about the importance of this election.  The continued growth of the deficit and national debt may become an existential threat if it is not addressed and ultimately reversed, something the current administration has addressed in much the same manner that a 2 year old addresses having to go the doctor's office with a temper tantrum.  The Republic will not fall if Obama is re-elected--but I fear that American exceptionalism will be put on life support, that our economy may be crippled to the point of an entire generation being lost to rehabilitating it, and that an unconstitutional expansion of executive powers will continue, more reminiscent of Roman tyrants than the limited powers envisioned by the Founding Fathers.

Debt Ceiling Debate

Balanced, bipartisan, fair, smart...these are some of the words President Obama used in his press conference today.  Certainly, the president has not shown through his actions that he is interested in any of these things--he gives high-minded speeches, but they are only empty words until backed by action.  Historically, countries in this sort of economic stall return to growth only with significant cuts in spending, not by increasing taxes.  While the House (Republicans) has advanced numerous plans that have actually been voted on and passed, the Senate (Democrats) has been running in circles for the past few weeks trying to create a single plan, and the president hasn't put a single bloody idea to paper.  Now, there can be debate over which of the House plans is the best option at this time, but the Senate and Oval Office combined have given not a single plan.  If Obama wants a deal so badly, simply send the marching orders to the Democrats that they should pass Cut, Cap and Balance in the Senate.

As to Obama's biggest complaint with the current plans, namely that we will have the same crisis again in a few months and we must have a solution through 2013--this is even more b.s. than usual political gamesmanship.  The only way we go through the same crisis again in a few months--is if he sits on his a** for those few months and doesn't use that time to come up with a long-term solution!  I could continue on a screed against Obama and his failures, but frankly I'm worn out by the whole debt debate debacle at this time.