I believe the US is a lot more of a dictatorship today than most Americans realize. For openers, any time the President is responsible for legislation or programs or actions that violate the US Constitution, with or without approval of Congress, he is assuming and being allowed dictatorial powers.
The President's legislating from the Oval Office by bypassing Congress with executive orders and signing statements is a blatant example. His issuance of presidential signing statements that claim the authority or state the intention to disregard or decline to enforce all or part of a law that he as President has signed, and his interpretation of laws in a manner inconsistent with the clear intent of Congress, are further indication of his contempt of Congress and the rule of law. These signing statements amount to a grab for legislative power belonging to Congress. Some congressmen have raised hell over it to no avail, and the general public is mostly unaware of or indifferent to it.
From expanding unconstitutional federal funding and oversight for public education, to intensifying unconstitutional federal police encroachments upon our freedoms and liberties via the Department of Homeland Security and Patriot Acts to unilaterally and unconstitutionally ordering the invasion and occupation of Iraq and A'stan without a declaration of war by the Congress, President Bush has demonstrated a calloused disregard for the Constitution.
Likewise with his refusal to defend US borders against illegal immigration, his initiating the disasterous "No Child Left Behind" program and other meddling in public schools, his permitting the FAA to continue to prevent airline pilots from becoming armed in spite of congressional legislation authorizing them to carry a gun in the cockpit, his push for ratification of the UN's Law of the Sea Treaty, which would give control of the oceans and their riches to the world body, is another evidence of his support for UN authority over the USA
Few Americans realize the Bush administration went to extraordinary lengths to keep the public from finding out the details of why President Bill Clinton pardoned 140 criminals and high level conspirators related to his own crimes. The Clinton pardons, done with stealth in the waning hours of his second term, represent some of the most significant corruptions of integrity in the office of the President ever recorded. These to are actions of a dictator. For a full list of the pardons, you can go to the Dept. of Justice site: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pardonchartlst.htm.
All this and more indicate that we have a dictator in the White House, not a president of a constitutional republic that Washington, Franklin, Jefferson and the boys gave us under inspiration of the Lord.
All this and more indicate that we have a dictator in the White House, not a president of a constitutional republic that Washington, Franklin, Jefferson and the boys gave us under inspiration of the Lord.
I disagree with this assessment. And I think that overstatements like this are dangerous. If we describe what we have as a dictatorship when it's not, that could open the door to thinking, well, hey, dictatorship isn't that bad. I also think it's disrespectful to those who are forced to live in a genuine dictatorship and what they go through.
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"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
I did not state that what we have is a total dictatorship, because we do not. However, I obviously believe and said the US is a lot more of a dictatorship today than most Americans realize. My contention is that the executive branch of our federal government, in many cases with the complicity of the judicial and legislative branches, has increasingly assumed powers not granted it by the Constitution. We are moving in a dangerous direction. Taxes and government spending have been increasing, government regulation and control over our lives have been increasing, and state police powers have been increasing. I fear it will get worse during the next presidential administration.
I had a feeling you'd be the one to take this topic and run with it.
I still believe we have checks and balances, but I also believe that 9/11 was an act of terrorism and not a conspiracy, and the Obama is a bona fide citizen who won an election, not a Muslim plant. (That's not to say that I voted for him, or that I believe our government is operating perfectly or even mostly righteously.)
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"There is order in the way the Lord reveals His will to mankind. . .we cannot receive revelation for someone else's stewardship." L. Tom Perry
Perhaps part of the problem is the size and scale of our United States. It is so big with so much money and influence that it is nearly impossible to keep tabs on everything, or when the public becomes aware of what the government is doing (bailouts) then the government diverts our attention to something else (Blagojevich). The current checks and balances don't appear to be powerful enough to sqaush out corruption. So, the quesiton is are they good enough to make life at least decent?
I wouldn't term it a dictatorship, but we certainly could not be called a Republic anymore either. The system is broken. A marxist has been elected president. His citizenship is in question. The fact that he refuses to provide the asked for proof tells us something is hidden in his past, most likely citizenship issues. We are highly likely to see massive inroads into socialism from the incoming administration.
Perhaps part of the problem is the size and scale of our United States. It is so big with so much money and influence that it is nearly impossible to keep tabs on everything, or when the public becomes aware of what the government is doing (bailouts) then the government diverts our attention to something else (Blagojevich). The current checks and balances don't appear to be powerful enough to sqaush out corruption. So, the quesiton is are they good enough to make life at least decent?
As the founding fathers said, our system is only good enough for a righteous people, which, as a whole, we are no longer. I'm sorry, but when you can buy gift cards for someone to get an abortion, there is something seriously wrong with society. And I tend in the other direction: we should constantly question whether we are tending towards a dictatorship. As the Doctine and Covenants tells us, it is the tendency of man, when he thinks that he has a little power, to exercise it unrighteously. Dictatorship is the natural condition. Freedom is not. So we need to be really sensitive of anything that could lead us toward dictatorship.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
I also think it's disrespectful to those who are forced to live in a genuine dictatorship and what they go through I don't know if you considered the USSR to be a dictatorship, but my wife lived under it and is convinced that we're pretty much the same nowadays. The only differences she sees she also believes to be going away.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va) recently wrote a letter to President Barack Obama warning the administration to desist from bypassing the Senates authority over Executive Branch appointments. According to Senator Byrd, the new administration is creating new agencies out of the White House that can threaten the Constitutional system of checks and balances. In effect, Byrd explained, the White House is taking direction and control of programmatic areas that are the statutory responsibility of Senate-confirmed officials.
If that isn't dictatorship, try this on for size:
The US President fires the CEO of GM. The FedGov is taking control of major banks. It is taking control of the energy industry. The FedGov has even pegged people like me as terrorists because we support the US Constitution, supported Ron Paul and Chuck Baldwin for president, supported other than the Democrat or Republican parties, oppose many actions of our government, etc.
I might as well add that the House of Representatives financial Services Committee has approved a measure called the "Pay For Performance Act of 209, which would imiplse FedGov controls on the pay of all employees - not just execs - of companies that have received capital investment from the FEdGov.
Then the President ignores requests for proof of citizenship.
-- Edited by lundbaek on Tuesday 31st of March 2009 08:17:54 PM
