During the election season, Barack Obama was built up as a Constitutional Scholar. He was supposed to have taught Constitutional Law at the University of Chicago. So, he should know the Constitution very well. He should be able to look at something and tell if it is Constitutional or not. That is why what has happened since January 20 has baffled me. I am no Constitutional scholar, but I do have a copy hanging up in my classroom. I read it before class.

For someone who is supposed to know the Constitution, he sure seems to be abusing his authority. He routinely oversteps his Constitutional authority and nobody questions his actions. That is also a problem. Even Congress, who took an oath to preserve and protect the Constitution, has routinely and deliberately gone outside their Constitutional authority since January. We seem to be living in a time where the Constitution does not matter any more. The Constitution only seems to matter when it is convenient, not at any other time.

How has Congress overstepped their Constitutional authority? Congress has no authority, as I read the Constitution, to give money to private companies. In fact, James Madison, who wrote the Constitution, made comments to that effect when the Constitution was being adopted. Yet, this Congress and the last Congress have given money to a host of companies. They have even acquired stock in these companies. That would make the US an owner of those businesses. The United States should not own businesses or any part of businesses. We operate under capitalism, not socialism. At least, that is the system that the Founders put into the Constitution. It worked well for over 230 years and we became the most powerful and prosperous country in the world. We do not want to emulate the poor socialist countries and always remain among the poorest countries in the world.

How has Barack Obama overstepped his Constitutional authority? He has gotten involved with hiring and firing CEO’s of companies. He has no authority to hire or fire any CEO of any company. The United States should have no ownership stake in any business, so the President should have no authority to hire or fire any of the staff. He is also trying to tell those companies how much they can pay their employees. Again, that is no business of the United States government, until tax time. If a company wants to pay someone $10,000 to do a job, that is ok. If they would rather pay that person $1,000,000 to do that job, that is ok.

The latest occasion of going outside his Constitutional authority is in the Chrysler situation. First, he tells Chrysler that they have to merge with Fiat, an Italian company. The President has no authority to tell Chrysler to do anything. Second, Chrysler felt it had to go through bankruptcy to make the merger take place. Barack Obama stuck his nose into the proceedings and decided who would win and who would lose. He decided that those that held an unsecured place should be first in line and those with secured loans should be last. That is exactly backwards from the way it is supposed to go. Secured debt is supposed to be cleared first and unsecured last. That would have meant that the UAW would have lost a lot of money. Since the UAW is a big Democrat contributor in money and campaign workers, Barack Obama felt they deserved a better place at the table. Obama gave the UAW a majority stock position in Chrysler ahead of the secured debt holders. Of course, the secured debt holders started to scream. When they started to make noise, Obama started calling them names and declaring them enemies of the state. The debt holders that had taken money from the government instantly collapsed and agreed to the decision of the President. Those that had not taken government money went to court and tried to argue their case. The judge decided that their names should be made public. The debt holders had wanted to remain anonymous because they were afraid that Barack Obama would try to demonize them as well. The secured debt holders are starting to cave because of the President’s bully pulpit and his ability to turn public opinion against them.

All of that is against the fifth amendment of the Constitution. That is depriving the secured debt holders of property without due process. The Constitution and the laws that come from it are inviolate. If they need to be changed, there are processes in place for them to be changed. They cannot be changed on the whim of the President or any other individual.

What astonishes me in this whole mess is the fact that NOBBODY in the media or the Republican Party is saying anything. Everybody is just letting Barack Obama get away with trashing the Constitution. Somebody with bigger soapbox needs to start calling Barack Obama what he is, a lawbreaker and a criminal. It is like the little boy who said the King has no clothes. Somebody had to say it before it became clear to everyone. SOMEBODY say something!!!