I have a question for Bill
Barr which no one seems to have asked yet. Barr's
legal, judicial and constitutional philosophy is one of a strong all
powerful chief executive. The nation has long debated that ideological
question. For decades it has been the subject in the formulation of our
Constitutional republic, through the institution of slavery, to the
20th century's Great Depression and beyond. I, too, when formulating my
political opinions wrestled with the concept of a strong chief
executive. I did so because those on the right were decrying, for
example, FDR's New Deal and John Kennedy's actions on behalf of civil
rights, as well as Lyndon Johnson's advocacy for human rights. The
right wing for years thought it was a breach of the balance of power the
Founders created for the president to stray into areas which either
belong to other branches of Congress or more properly reside in the
states. Many viewed FDR's New Deal as tyrannical.
What is the role of the Chief Executive when working to
ameliorate the effects of a Great Depression, waging war, or even providing health
insurance? Up until FDR the president thought his powers were
limited and that there was nothing more that could be done during the
Great
Depression by Herbert Hoover except to let the economy adjust on its
own. Meanwhile
millions were starving and millions were sick. Later persons of color
who served the nation in war were not let into all white colleges and
universities or drink from water fountains labeled "white." These
mammoth injustices which since FDR called out for strong executive
power. I advocated for a strong executive when justice had to prevail
or when the existential life of the nation was in question.
Since
Trump the trajectory of that power for which I once advocated can be
seen through his plethora of executive orders that come down heavy not for the least of these but against those who have the least.
He has relegated those seeking protection from tyranny to mandating a
new Trumpian tyranny. He has relegated children vying for safety in
this nation to cages, he has signed Muslim bans, he has cozied up to the
worst of world dictators, celebrated with Russian ambassadors over a
firing of an FBI director, encroached through eminent domain on private
property for his wall to keep desperate immigrants out, imposed
economically destructive tariffs, advocated for the attorney general to
lower sentencing on a convicted felon in a case where the defendant was
his friend. This has never happened before. He has nominated judges
who do not meet even the standards of the American Bar Association. He
has sent federally empowered ICE into states which have sanctuary cities
to arrest those who have been given state protection. He lowered
pollution standards in streams and waterways that provide drinking
water. He eliminated standards for fossil fuel drilling and for the
extraction of dirty coal. He cancelled the nuclear proliferation
agreement with Iran which was working, and he denies the scientific
certainty of climate change while our nation drowns in floods and
suffers along with other nations many other catastrophic weather related
disasters. Ask Australians if they believe in climate change.
Much
of the power which the president thinks he has and Mr. Barr thinks
lives within his presidential right to wield is dedicated to undoing the
justice of many decades of injustice. Trumpian power is inhumane,
cruel, vicious and is dedicated to inflate his bank accounts and
maintaining power while he existentially destroys our nation.
I
therefore ask Bill Barr if he believes in a strong chief executive does
he do so if the the president were a Democrat? Does he think a unitary
strong executive should prevail only if the president is Republican
advocating for the richest in the nation and above the law our Founders
feared?
This is a running commentary on contemporary social, political and religious issues. From the Introduction of James Comey's book "A Higher Loyalty -- Truth, Lies and Leadership" "Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary" Reinhold Niebuhr
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