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Public Comments - Miscellaneous
Seize the Day
October 14, 2011Seize the Day: Go Around Congress
The growing "Occupy Wall Street" campaign is an opportunity.
Mounting frustration with the economy, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and
the apparent impotence of our national government - on matters of importance
to the Middle and Working Classes - have divided us.
In this division, lies unity.
People on the Left and the Right will always have different ideas about how
to govern our nation, but there is a fundamental agreement - an awakening -
that the institutions of our government cannot function on our behalf.
This is an important realization for all of us. For America is strongest
when our citizens engage, and engage we have.
At present we have important questions to answer:
1. What is the purpose of our government - is it to level the field for
all, or to harbor and protect the wealthy among us?
2. What are corporations? Are they organizational arrangements that
empower commerce - or are they "people" with all the rights as the rest of
us?
3. What does it say about a company - or our country - when businesses
are encouraged to lay workers off, and take capital to foreign shores?
4. And what is the duty of a President when the Congress seeks, and
then sustains, stalemate? What is a President to do when the nation demands
thoughtful action?
The answers will reveal the kind of America we are, the kind of America we shall
become.
Americans value labor and industry; we seek self-reliance, but we know that
community - through family and friends - is the glue that holds us together
while we seek it.
Government must never take the place of community, but it remains an
essential partner in facilitating success for communities.
People do not like Congress but they expect Congress to act - and it has
chosen not to act.
Speaker Boehner and Leader McConnell have set about a transparent and
unwavering course of division and delay - they have bet the farm on the
intolerance of the American public for perpetual stalemate.
And for the past year or so, this strategy has provided a series of pyrrhic
victories.
But showcasing Congressional dysfunction does not guarantee the same results
in the longer term: it fosters an environment where solutions that do not
seek Congressional sanction become more favorable.
If Congress cannot function, then it makes sense to seek out and implement
approaches without concern for Congress.
Boehner and McConnell have effectively killed President Obama's job bill -
at least in terms of Congressional action.
Through this action, and a score of them before it, the Congress has
forfeited its opportunity to participate.
President Obama has the authority to implement much of his agenda through
Executive Order and administrative policy.
In the absence of specified law, President Obama can authorize action - and
dare the Republicans in Congress to undo them.
This approach is the "path less taken" but it has historical precedent.
It was not Harry Truman telling Congress it was a "do nothing Congress" that
won the day - it was his willingness to go around them to push his agenda
through strategic use of his executive authority that transformed the
election of 1948 - and our country with it.
President Obama has yet to explore the frontier of his executive power - it
is time he did. He now knows how little Congress has made itself.
Let Boehner and McConnell continue using Congress to thwart the Obama
Agenda.
The political environment Boehner and McConnell have worked so hard to
establish: a dysfunctional, partisan Congress would have at least as much
trouble passing laws to undo executive actions - as the President has
experienced trying to pass his agenda.
Majority Leader Reid and the Democratic Senate can stop action far easier
than the Republicans can - in either chamber. If stalemate is the game, let
the game begin in earnest.
It is time we transition the struggle from the trenches to the flanks where
we can surprise our adversaries. We do not have to play the game - as
rigged - by Boehner and McConnell.
With the current state of the Congress and the Courts, 2012 will be here
long before legitimate challenges to his orders could be suspended or ruled
Unconstitutional.
The outpouring of national frustration that defines both the "Occupy Wall
Street" and Tea Party movements is all the justification needed for the
President to implement a new approach for his agenda. The people demand
action. The Congress has taken itself out of the process.
Presidential power increases and decreases at the will of the people. When
the people give up hope in one branch of their government, they often
tolerate greater creativity in others.
It is time for us to send a message to President Obama - and the Congress -
Act Now, Act for America.
