Executive Actions = End Run.  For that tiny handful of folks who read this blog, you realize I have been heavily critical of the manner in which Congress has deviated from rules of order.  Now if I can get this upset with Congressional inaction, one might ask, how can I criticize the Administration for taking executive actions to address the needs perceived by the President but not addressed by Congress?  Easy; my complaint is the same in both cases.  Executive actions exist, in my humble opinion, to address issues not addressed by Congress or in other cases, to address issues in an expedient fashion required by extraordinary circumstances.  Joe Biden today told a group of gun control advocates that given the Senate defeat this week of the gun control bill, the President would soon be taking executive actions to address the situation.  Now this, my friends, is what I call an abuse of executive action.

Whether the President is George Bush or Barrack Obama, taking executive actions that attempt to accomplish policy that has been rejected by Congress is not a proper application of power.  Had Congress failed to move a gun bill to a vote…that would perhaps be grounds for executive action.  Had Congress passed legislation that left certain critical areas of policy unaddressed… that would perhaps have been grounds for executive action.   But when executive actions are taken to impose (that’s right, it is imposition because it is not subject to Congress and…by the time the Judiciary reviews it, the damage is often done) policies that have been rejected by Congress, it is a perversion of the democratic process and an abuse of power.     Presidents should not supplant themselves in the place of Congress when it comes to making law. While it has clearly become out of fashion to adhere to any type of traditional order when legislating in this country, it is yet another sad commentary that the instrument of executive orders has become nothing more than a political flare that the President sends up when his boat begins to take on water.  The flare soars into the air, burns brilliantly for a few moments, and then falls helplessly into the water.  In the case of flares, they sink harmlessly to the bottom and are soon forgotten.  Unfortunately with executive orders, they tend to stay around for longer shelf life and create all manner of havoc.  If you can’t get the legislation passed that you want, do the heavy lifting and either convince others to buy into your ideas, change the substance of your argument, or compromise in such a way to get the required votes for passage.   Pitching hissy fits in the rose garden is a bit lame, don’t you think?