111th Congress - Liberal Damage on the Way Out

By Douglas V. Gibbs

I think it is safe to say that the 111th Congress has been the most damaging, and unpopular, Congress in the entire history of America. The liberal activity during the lame duck session of 2010 was especially egregious. The media, in cahoots with the hard left authoritarian Democrats, are trying to make heads or tails of the insanity in order to write positively about it, but even the Marxist journalists are finding it hard to defend the congressional madness.

In addition to the Congressional end around, the regulatory decisions during the lame duck session may have very well been a preview of the underhanded lawmaking we will see the Democrats engage in during this coming 2011 year. Rather than follow the law, and for all legislative actions to originate in Congress, the leftist government agencies created regulations in order to circumvent the Congress. In a true betrayal of the U.S. Constitution, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) advanced the liberal agenda despite the law.

The HHS unveiled new price controls for the health insurance industry, forcing health insurance companies to receive permission from the Obama Administration before they can raise rates by more than 10 percent. The theory is that the price controls will help decrease rising health care costs. In reality, the price controls will cause shortages, rather than better health care. That is the plan, however. The federal government is doing all that it can to completely destroy the final parts of the private industry so that they may move in the direction of government controlled health care through an emerging single-payer system.

The FCC released its “net neutrality” rules, which will allow the federal government to begin regulating the Internet. The FCC did this regardless of the protest by the public and by Congress, and a federal court ruling that stated that the FCC does not have the authority to put into place these regulations. Left unchecked, this department is systematically dismantling our freedom of speech, while seizing powers not granted to it by the Constitution.

The EPA announced that it will begin regulating power plants and oil refineries. The idea is to slow down the greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere in order to stop man-made global warming, which has been proven by science, and leaked Emails, as being a hoax. Worse, the seizure of power by the EPA through these regulations is unconstitutional. The EPA does not have this authority. The Bureau of Land Management is also issuing new rules, but in their case it will make it harder to develop natural resources on government-owned land. Both of these measures will not only drive up the cost of electricity but will also make us more dependent on foreign sources of energy.

The Obama Administration, through the regulatory madness of these federal agencies, is quite literally making Congress irrelevant. The Democrats are doing all they can to step up their leftist agenda, despite the fact that the people rejected the liberal agenda by overwhelmingly voting Republican last November.

Article I, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution states that all legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States. In other words, only Congress can make law, modify law, repeal law, or strike down law. These agency regulations are an example of parts of government other than the legislative branch making law. All of those regulations are unconstitutional.

The Progressives don't care what the Constitution says, they could care less about the law, and they sure as heck don't consider public opinion as having any bearing on their decisions. The Democrats are political elitists who believe it is their role to force upon the people what the liberals think is best for the common good, despite the law.

This is where the fight will be next year. Knowing that the liberals can't get anything past a GOP controlled House of Representatives, the Democrats will simply ignore the law, and put their agenda across through regulations - bypassing Congress altogether.

Congress still has a weapon. The House of Representatives has the power of the purse strings, and can defund the liberal madness, if they dare. The real question is, will they?

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary