William Dickson – 5/16/12

This page was last updated on May 17, 2012.

Losing freedom; William Dickson; Beaver County Times; May 16, 2012.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“I keep hearing about our freedom in America. What freedom? Obama is a dictator (If he so chooses). But so was every other president.

“With a single stroke of his pen he could uproot families, take everything we own from us. Lincoln and Truman did that. He could start a war with Iran, North Korea, or even Canada if he wanted too. And, all without the consent of Congress.”

[RWC] The Constitution gives the President military powers. Among other things, Article II, Section 2 says, “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States.” Being “Commander in Chief” means the President can tell the military what to do within the confines of the rest of the Constitution. For example, the Third Amendment says, “No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.” The Constitution does not limit the President’s “Commander in Chief” power to a declared war. The President can go to Congress for approval if he wants to, but the Constitution does not require it. At some point, though, the President must go to Congress for money. Thus, if Congress doesn’t eventually approve of a military action, the President will soon run out of money and the operation will cease.

“The U.S Constitution doesn’t give him this power, but the executive order does. Clinton bombed Yugoslovia [sic] against the vote of Congress, and then sent 7,000 troops in. Eisenhower nationalized the steel mills in 1952 when the workers were going to go on strike and forced them to return to work or go to jail with an executive Order. Executive orders can be overturned by a 66 percent congressional vote. Nixon gave an executive order saying Congress couldn’t overturn an executive order for at least six months.”

[RWC] Mr. Eisenhower didn’t take office until 1953. Mr. Dickson is thinking of President Truman. The Supreme Court, in its ruling for Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, declared Mr. Truman’s EO to be unconstitutional and the steel companies were immediately returned to their owners.

As for “Nixon gave an executive order saying Congress couldn’t overturn an executive order for at least six months,” I could find nothing to support the allegation. There is a claim making the rounds on the Internet that EO 11921 (issued by President Ford in 1976) “provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months.” I searched the EO and found no such language.

“Obama said if Congress doesn’t act, he will. Only two of thousands of executive orders have been overturned. The majority of laws are made by the president. We lose more of our freedom with each presidential election. All this is against our constitution and Bill of Rights.”

[RWC] If Mr. Dickson were serious about laws not passed by Congress, he would have mentioned the law-making power delegated to our regulatory agencies. You can read more about this topic in my paper “Economics.”