PrintNovember 18, 2010
Vanden Heuvel: Send Hither a Swarm of Bureaucrats
Katrina vanden Heuvel, who edits the leftwing The Nation, has a very democratic solution to President Obama's loss of the Democrats' House majority a couple of weeks ago. Vanden Heuvel, a bit vexed that voters don't want to keep the left's regressive revolution going, suggests that President Barak Obama govern through executive order.
No longer able to ram legislation down Americans' throats via Democratic congressional majorities, Ms. vanden Heuvel wants Mr. Obama to ram policies down Americans' throats via unelected government bureaucrats.
President Obama, who's already loosed the Environmental Protection Agency, among other bureaucracies, upon unsuspecting Americans in the underreported Quiet Regressive Revolution, might just be encouraged by Ms. vanden Heuvel's prodding and go whole hog - as they say down south. Whole hog being turning the Oval Office into an executive order mill. Whole hog being subverting the will of the people by breaking the federal bureaucracy's chains and yelling "Sic ‘em!"
Vanden Heuvel's advice is yet more dreary evidence that the left's desire to transform America into some socialist paradise takes precedent over democratic processes. Day by day, thanks to twits like Vanden Heuvel, the left reveals its decidedly undemocratic character.
But once upon a time, a king -- King George -- used his powers to issue executive orders that didn't sit very well with American colonists. High tea taxes -- among other travesties -- led to rebellion. Rebellion led to a freedom revolution.
Ms. vanden Heuvel may want to be careful what she wishes for. And the President better be careful what he does in unchaining federal bureaucrats. Once Americans fully grasp the subversion of their liberties that are being encouraged by the left through Washington's bureaucracies, the backlash that comes won't redound to the left's benefit.
Ms. vanden Heuvel, see the Declaration of Independence for more on the subject of tyrannies and revolution.
(Hat tip to Thomas Lifson for the term "regressive,' which fittingly describes what progressivism really means for the nation.)
