(Columbia, SC) – It has been said that all that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. Whether that is true or not it is clear that Democrats have dropped the ball such that much of what has occurred is their fault for, in effect, doing nothing. Thanks to the Democrats’ do nothing policy we have witnessed perhaps the darkest day in recent American history: the Conquest of the Right over the will of the majority.
So the real question now is not what happened but what we can do about it. The answer is the President and the Democratic Party must grow a pair now. Many things can be done but they all require three things, courage, courage, and courage.
Democrats have been repeatedly out maneuvered because the leader of the party acts like a Senator not a president. The entire executive power granted by the United States Constitution is vested in one person: the President of the United States, arguably the most powerful person on the planet. In short, we are desperately in need of true courageous leadership. We are in need of a president who has the courage of David Glascow Farragut.
Farragut was a Union naval officer during the Civil War who was charged with the monumental task of taking the Port of Mobile, Alabama, the last port controlled by the Confederacy. The port was heavily protected with torpedoes. When one of his lead boats struck a torpedo and sank the rest of the boats pulled back. Farragut inquired “‘[w]hat’s the trouble?” In response he was told about the torpedoes to which he said to have replied, “Damn the torpedoes. Four bells, Captain Drayton, go ahead. Jouett, full speed.” The rest is history. The confederates surrendered though they had superior position and superior arms. It was courage that made that happen. So what would courage look like in the situation that the Democratic Party and Americans generally find ourselves in?
First, time is of the essence. We are confronted with the real possibility of losing the majority in the House and the Senate in the November midterm elections. Countdown To Countdown to Midterm Elections 2022 (yourcountdown.to)
Second, a recent Gallup poll indicates that 85% of Americans’ biggest concern is the economy. This indicates that Americans are concerned with feeding their families. First and foremost they are in economic pain. So the other issues have become politically irrelevant in terms of holding on to the House and Senate in the upcoming midterm elections. Which means the Democrats have a real fight on their hands.
The real question is what weapons do Democrats have in their arsenal that can be effectively used to combat the Republican assault. The answer? Presidential Power and Presidential Leadership – the presidential executive order and the bully pulpit.
Americans know full well that President Biden is one person and they see what he is up against. They know that he cannot do it all but they expect him to do all that the President of the United States can do. They want him to start acting like the President of the United States and not a United States Senator. He must stop trying to cajole and persuade Congress and exercise the power granted to him by We The People through the United States Constitution. .
It is certain that the president is the Chief Executive Officer of the United States and as such has wide latitude to create and implement solutions to the problems confronting Americans now. But a president who approaches problems as one who legislates rather than one who executes will never utilize his constitutional executive power because he still thinks and acts like a member of Congress.
Clearly the president can use his executive power to bring down inflation, escalating gas and food prices if only short term. Americans need relief. The President must focus on easing our economic pain. More than anything we need a president who demonstrates the courage to fight for us. Ease the pain Mr. President. Take bold action. Stop worrying about court challenges; in the most litigious nation on the planet they are inevitable. Use the presidential power granted you by the United States Constitution.
Presidential Power
- The President of the United States is the single most powerful person on the planet.
- The President of the United States has at his disposal the largest law firm in the world (Department of Justice) with more than nine thousand attorneys on payroll.
- The Presidential Executive Order can be used to cover a multitude of situations. It is only limited by the imagination of the President.
Legislative Experience
- President Biden served six terms as a United States Senator (36 years).
- President Biden served on the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee.as Ranking Member of the committee from 1981 to 1987 and Chairman of the committee from 1987 to 1995.
- President Biden served as Vice President of the United States from January 20, 2009 to January 20, 2017.
President Biden is therefore one of the most legislatively experienced presidents in history. If anyone knows the ins and outs of government and the politics that govern it is Joe Biden. Yet his lackluster performance in the areas that most concern the majority of Americans and which will likely determine the outcome of the midterm election is troubling as it seems at odds with his vast experience. If you claim to know how to get things done but repeatedly fail clearly your approach is flawed and a course correction is indicated.
You are the President of the United States and as President Truman so eloquently put it “the buck stops here” – that is with you the president. So what can the president do when faced with an obstructionist Congress and an ultra conservative Supreme Court majority?
The Power of the Executive Order
The United States Constitution grants the President the power to see that the laws are faithfully executed. The Supreme Court has held that presidential executive orders must be supported by the Constitution, from a clause granting specific power, or by Congress delegating such to the executive branch. The Presidential Executive Order can be used to cover a multitude of situations. It is only limited by the imagination of the President.
Ease our economic pain.
We constantly hear about inflation. I suspect that the average person does not really understand the term. What people understand is that everything costs more. And that while prices continue to climb income does not. In fact, we are spending, on average, $250 more a month or $3000 per year more for those goods and services than we did before the pandemic. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics food prices are up 10% and energy prices are up 36%. Bottom line? Everything costs more. The reason? A national emergency called the Covid 19 pandemic. emergency.
Presidents have extraordinary, though not unlimited, powers to take action during a national emergency. Among such powers are price controls. Minimum wage is a price control as is rent control. People need prices on food and gas to come down – now. Ideally prices should be returned to where they were prior to the pandemic.
Price Controls
Today my wife informed me that she paid $3.75 for a dozen eggs that cost $.98 before the pandemic. The sad truth is that every food item is more expensive now. Things have gotten so bad many people find it necessary to go to food banks for the first time.
Since this national emergency began grocery prices have skyrocketed. Gas prices are still an all time high. These problems can be relieved by courageous executive action.
Price controls are a way for the government to help consumers by preventing price gouging on the products people need most. “Prices can be set at some baseline – say where they were the day or month before . . . a national emergency.”
President Biden can use the power of the executive order to relieve America’s economic pain. By doing so he will win the hearts and the votes of the American people who are not millionaires or well to do politicians. Speak to the American people for whom the price of a dozen eggs and a gallon of gas can mean survival. It takes nothing more than courage. President Biden has the power he seems to lack only courage.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who issued 3,721 executive orders said: “Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” Talk to the people in terms they understand and take decisive action. Damn the Torpedoes full speed ahead!
