The 10th Gets No Respect

            The 10^th Amendment to the Constitution is brief, only 28 words, and should be perfectly clear to anyone who reads it. It says, in effect, that the federal government has no powers except those specifically granted to it by the Constitution. Yet, the 10^th Amendment has been violated more frequently by the Executive Branch than any other. And of all the presidents who have violated it, Barack Obama is the worst. He has said unabashedly that where Congress fails to act, he will. And he has. Again and again he has legislated from the White House, usurping powers specifically granted to Congress by the Constitution.

            Most egregious perhaps are the changes the President made to ObamaCare, re-writing provisions of the law he didn’t like. He got away with it, because a squabbling and divided Congress proved powerless to stop him.

            Most numerous have been his frequent extra-constitutional executive orders. But in some cases, like the one leading to amnesty for illegal immigrants, the court stepped in to prevent the President from executing his unlawful orders.

            Most insidious, though, are the regulations issued by federal agencies with the force of law. The worst offender, in my view, is the EPA, which has, among other abuses, interpreted the broad mandate of the Clean Air Act to put the coal industry out of business.

            One can hope that the next president will put a stop to these violations and respect the balance of power our Founders felt was so necessary to maintain an effective government responsible to the people. In January Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump will take the oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. But do they intent to respect the 10^th Amendment? That would be a good question to ask the candidates in the up-coming debates.