Presidential Directives and Executive Orders

Presidential signing statements have never been as abused as they have under the current administration. Signing statements are instructions to all officials of the Executive Branch not to enforce particular provisions of the bill being signed. 

In the case of this president, these provisions are generally those which do not give him unfettered power, or that do not facilitate the Security & Prosperity Partnership or any of the other egregious agreements he has entered into, or those that attempt to hinder the progress of the new fascist state being created.

I would like to know what gives the president the right to declare that he has the power to decide that he does not have to abide by the law. 

More damaging than the signing statements are Executive orders and Presidential directives. These two instruments have become the means by which the executive writes his own laws and avoids congress altogether. 

Here are a few Executive orders you might find amusing:  

• 11000: Allows the government to mobilize civilians into work brigades under government supervision.  

• 11004: Allows the Housing and Finance Authority to relocate communities, build new housing with public funds, designate areas to be abandoned, and establish new locations for populations. 

• 11921: Allows the Federal Emergency Preparedness Agency to develop plans to establish control over the mechanisms of production and distribution, of energy sources, wages, salaries, credit and flow of money in the U.S.A. financial institution in any undefined national emergency. It also provides that when a state of emergency is declared by the President, Congress cannot review the action for six months. 

Now what could Bush possibly have had in mind when he issued these orders?   

Even far more frightening are Presidential Directives and of particular interest are National Security Presidential Directive NSPD51 and, Homeland Security Presidential Directive/HSPD-20.   

Reading from the White House spin page you could come to the conclusion that these directives showed some forethought and that contingency plans were in place to protect our sovereign nation in a time of crisis. You could think that; right up to the very last line of the page, which says that the actual annexes of the directives have been classified, so you can’t know what they really say.  

I fully understand the need to keep many things under cover for security reasons. But, when I combine these directives with executive orders listed in the Federal Register [see chart] and the defiance of signing statements, I can see a pattern emerging that has less to do with national security and continuity of government than it does with laying the groundwork for dissolving our Constitutional government and implementing a dictatorship. All for our own good of course.

In all of this, I have to wonder yet again where our Supreme Court is. They had no problem interfering in a national election when they had no constitutional right to do so, but have remained quiet and compliant, as this president they selected has written his own laws and broken or ignored many others.  

And where is our congress? This branch of government has ceded so much of its authority to this president in violation of the delegation of powers in the Constitution and has not acted once to repeal any of these power-grabbing provisions penned by Bush. 

To add insult to injury, VP Dick Cheney has now declared himself not to be part of the Executive branch. Well, if he isn’t….why is he called the Vice President and why is he allowed to conduct business in the name of that office?  

Next Page  1  |  2

(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).