Waive Bye-Bye

 For decades, the American Judiciary has referred to the United States Constitution as a "living and breathing" document, which judges can freely interpret to support whatever public policy the Courts may choose to impose. Arguably, this view of the Constitution, which was judicially fabricated and is not found in the Constitution, effectively destroyed the Constitution as a limit on government powers, as it places the Judges over not only all other governmental functions but over the people as well, since it allows the judges to place themselves over the people's elected representatives.

Even during the explosion of cases since the 1960's seeking the use of this Judicial Review as a policy weapon, the various branches of the government continued at least as a pretext that the government adhered to the Constitution, if only as a guideline.

During the present administration, however, there has been a sea change. Mr. Obama promised that he would bring change to America, and he has. His Stimulus didn't do it; that has been a colossal failure. He promised that America wouldn't see 8% unemployment, and that is only true if he meant unemployment would never be that low while he was President. In each of his years as President, Obama has added over $1 Trillion in debt, but that's just an acceleration of Federal borrowing- an exponential acceleration, to be sure, but that's all, and it hasn't really changed anything.

Nonetheless, Obama and his administration, and the Democrat Senate, have made one major change in America. They have discarded all but the pretense of Constitutional governance. The Democrat-controlled Senate has not passed a budget since Obama came into office. Harry Reid and his cohorts refuse to take up or debate any of the dozens of bills passed to them from the House, and then have the temerity to complain about the do-nothing Congress to a complicit media. With this bunch, government according to the Constitution's plan just can't happen.

What the Senate has done is nothing compared to the Executive branch, however. For example, early in Obama's tenure, lobbyists came to the White House. When FOIA requests were made to find out the names of the visitors, the "most transparent administration" strenuously resisted. They lost. So after that, administration operatives go elsewhere to meet the lobbyists; when doing backroom Chicago-style deals which might be perceived as shady, you can't have publicity.

Then there is Obamacare. First, it imposes a requirement to buy a product. Not everyone wants it, but the government says everyone must because it's good public policy. They say they will "help" with the cost, and good luck with that. But "good" public policy and financial "assistance" (or dependency) does not impute the Constitutional power to the government to enact this. Second, there is the matter of waivers. Ms. Pelosi, then Speaker, pushed the bill through, and there was a provision for waivers in the application of the bill. Madame Pelosi's district, surprisingly(?), was granted a large percentage of the waivers, while waiver requests from more conservative districts seem somehow not to have met the requirements. Third is the IPAB, a commission purportedly beyond the reach of Congress or the Courts, with power to set policies affecting the lives (and deaths) of all citizens, which raises the question of Congressional authority to set up such an agency.

And this administration is taking the concept of "waivers" to a new extreme. Obama is now granting waivers to ten states from the requirements of the No Child Left Behind law. Like so many Federal efforts to fix a problem, that law created a multitude of new and more complex problems. Many states want out, and that's fine; Congress is working on changing that law, but it's still law. Obama, however, has a better plan. Rather than let Congress legislate, he'll do it, with a myriad of new regulations. If a state chooses to give his administration obeisance by adopting his new regulations, they can have a waiver from the law. 

Illegal aliens benefit from this waiver process, too. Long-established Federal law says illegal immigrants are to be deported; Obama simply passes new rules. He even works on granting "waivers" to illegals to work in the U.S.  Protecting America's borders is one of the very few duties affirmatively imposed on the Federal government; Obama plans to waive it. 

And then there is the new birth-control requirement issued by his administration. The administration says there is an objection for religious organizations, but it is so narrow that practically nobody qualifies. As a result, religious organizations are complaining that their Constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion is being assaulted. Obama's solution? You guessed it; a waiver program. He won't agree to change the law, but he will grant "waivers" so they don't have to (immediately) comply. When the waivers expire, it'll be too late to complain, but it will buy their silence and shut them up during the upcoming elections.

What you are seeing in the Obama Administration is a wholesale disregard for the Constitution and the rule of law. When the President wants to reward political cronies, he grants them a waiver; if he wants to silence critics, he grants a waiver. If the GOP, and particularly the conservatives don't call him on this lawless behavior, America can "waive" bye-bye to representative Constitutional government.