If you think there is ‘nothing new under the sun,’ this statement supports you, having come to us from a 402-years-ago quote from French mathematician, physicist, inventor, and philosopher, Blaise Pascal.
Pascal is as relevant today as he was four centuries ago, and who would have thought it in America, beacon of freedom and law?
But here we are, with a Supreme Court in chaos and decline, a Constitution under attack, a Congress unable to legislate, and 800 American military bases scattered among approximately 80 nations, representing the largest global military presence of any nation. That’s a textbook definition of Pascal’s statement, applying to a nation that wouldn’t even exist for another 153 years.
I would say that qualifies as a statement that has stood the test of time.
In the unable-to-strengthen-justice department, consider that ICE is now dragging both immigrants and citizens off the streets, and deporting them without trial. Consider further that our current president is flaunting both the law and the Constitution by executive orders, contravening the legislative branch of the government. Executive orders are legal only in times of national emergency, and no such condition exists, or has existed, during his two terms.
Hang on there, dial up the The National Emergencies Act of 1976.
The Act empowers the president to activate special powers during a crisis, while imposing certain procedural formalities when invoking such powers. The perceived need for such a law arose from the scope and number of laws granting special powers to the executive in times of national emergency.
Congress can terminate an emergency declaration with a joint resolution enacted into law. But not this congress. This congress shivers in the shadow of an all-but-dictator president.
Powers available when the President declares a national emergency under this Act are limited to the 137 emergency powers Congress has defined by law. The legislation was signed by President Gerald Ford on September 14, 1976. As of March 2020, 60 national emergencies have been declared, more than 30 of which remain in effect.
The thirty that remain make a mockery of ‘national emergency.’
Nov 14, 1994:
The national emergency with respect to the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. That’s 31 years ago, and an international circumstance rather than an emergency.
Another, prohibits transactions with terrorists who threaten to disrupt the middle east peace process. Does Israel qualify?
A National Emergency with respect to blocking property of persons undermining Democratic parties or institutions in Zimbabwe as an effort to punish associates of Robert Mugabe. Really? Mugabe is a national emergency for the most powerful nation on the planet?
Finally (not to wear you out), a National Emergency relating to the situation in Nicaragua of democratic institutions and the rule of law that constitutes an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.” Nicaragua, for god’s sake, a country of no consequence to anyone beside Exxon Oil.
Essentially, The National Emergencies Act of 1976, quite probably enacted closely after Gerald Ford bumped his head on something (again), gave presidents, then and forever, the tool to do whatever the hell they wanted.
A foolish thing, no doubt. But it was a legal act of Congress, and Congress has a long reputation for doing foolish things.
And, from the signing of the act in 1976, until March of 2020, sixty national emergencies have been declared. But those were times when we had reasonably serious men in the Oval Office.
Not necessarily bright, well educated or sincere--after all, it is a political office--but reasonably serious.
And then we got unserious. Who would have thought?
Donald Trump signed 220 Executive Orders in his first term and has, thus far (8 months in), signed 202 executive orders, 49 memoranda, and 85 proclamations in his second. We have apparently suffered 422 national emergencies thus far under Trump and he has another 27 months at bat. That’s a long time to keep swingin’ at the center field fence.
No need to worry that the Orange Man may become a dictator--for the next 27 months he is one.
(Wikipedia) On his first day in office, Trump issued 26 executive orders, the most of any president on their first day in office. The executive orders rescinded many of the previous administration’s executive actions.
It began with the withdrawal process from the World Health Organization and Paris Agreement, rolled back federal recognition of gender identity, founded the Department of Government Efficiency, reaffirmed the existing constitutional right to free speech, reversed the withdrawal of Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, reversed sanctions on Israeli settlers, rolled back policy on artificial intelligence, reversed the Family Reunification Task Force, pardoned over 1,500 January 6 rioters, designated Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, attempted to end birthright citizenship for new children of illegal immigrants, and immigrants legally but temporarily present in the U.S. (such as those on student, work, or tourist visas), delayed the government’s ban of TikTok, and declared a national emergency on the southern border, triggering the deployment of the U.S. military.
That’s Day One.
Even God rested on his seventh day, but not our man in the Oval Office.
827 days remain.
Think about that, as you pull the covers over your head...and sleep well...