Obama’s power grab

The three branches of U.S. government—legislative, judicial, and executive—carry out governmental power and functions.

Legislative Branch

Article I of the Constitution establishes the legislative or law making branch of government. It has a two-branch Congress—the Senate and the House of Representatives—and agencies that support Congress.

Judicial Branch

Courts decide arguments about the meaning of laws and how they are applied. They also decide if laws violate the Constitution—this is known as judicial review, and it is how federal courts provide checks and balances on the legislative and executive branches.

Executive Branch

The executive branch of the government is responsible for enforcing the laws of the land. The president, vice president, department heads (cabinet members), and heads of independent agencies carry out this mission.

The above is exactly how the founding fathers and framers laid out our constitution. Now we have Obama who claims to be a Constitution professor wants to violate the powers of the three branches in his first “Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi-like” attempt to make himself a dictator. In a move that can be called nothing less than blackmail, Obama demonstrated on Wednesday Dec. 5, 2012, just how partisan and how much of a power grabber he is. He indicated that if he were not given unlimited powers to raise the debt ceiling, apart from Congressional approval, that he might just veto his own tax hike proposal should it come to his desk.

Obama’s own proposal could not pass either the House or the Senate, but apparently he wants to be kingpin of debt and demand the power, given to Congress in Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, and go from $16 trillion to “infinity and beyond!”

If Congress allows current laws signed by President Barack Obama to stand and follows the fiscal path they have set for the next decade, federal tax revenues will rise to a record level as a percentage GDP, according to the Congressional Budget Office, but annual federal spending will also increase by 55 percent and continuous deficits will require Congress to lift the federal debt limit by another $4.25 trillion even as the government rakes in unprecedented tax revenue.

Under the so-called “fiscal cliff” scenario, in which all of the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire and “sequestration” of some anticipated federal spending takes place, the federal government still will not balance its budget.

Congress must stand up to him and keep him in check or it will most certainly spell the end for the U.S. economy and possibly the United States of America as well. During this lame duck session, he is showing the citizens of this country what we are in store for after he is inaugurated in January 2013.

Bob Cowan, Miami

Raise the tax rate

Since the general election all we hear coming out of the nation’s capital is the “fiscal cliff.” The Republicans and Democrats are blaming each other for this fiscal disaster. But who is really the blame? It’s the electorate. We have been electing members of Congress who have been promising us cake and then allowing us to eat it, too.

President Clinton left office with the nation in good fiscal shape. When George W. Bush became president, the dot-com bubble burst. Instead of increasing spending to stimulate the nation’s economy, President Bush proposed reducing income rates. The Congress went along. Then there was 9/11. The nation went into recession. President Bush proposed more reductions to the income tax rates and Congress went along. Next were the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq paid with borrowed money.