Of Kings and Men

Tom Rice: “Our Founders, Mr. Speaker, designed a system of government based upon a separation of powers. The legislative branch enacts the laws, and the executive branch, the president, enforces those laws. They did that to protect our very, very fragile freedom. We cannot allow those separations to be eroded. One man who can both make the laws and enforce the laws is more a monarch than a president.
“Article II, Section 3 of the Constitution requires, in part, that the president take care to faithfully execute the nation’s laws. In 1792, when George Washington was faced with enforcing an unpopular whiskey tax, he wrote in a letter that: ‘It is my duty to see that these laws are executed. To permit them to be trampled upon with impunity would be repugnant to that duty.’ “President Obama, on the other hand, has, throughout his administration, picked and chosen which laws or parts thereof he wishes to enforce … This is not a Republican issue. This is not a Democrat issue. It is not a tea party action. This is not for messaging. H.R. 442 merely recognizes that no American, including the president, is above the law.” here

I challenge anyone to argue. Any member of Congress who does not agree with this sentiment is ignorant of the Constitution, of history, of our republic.  Perhaps we should make reading Tomas Paine's Common Sense once again required reading in American schools.