Politics may be a “team sport,” but the battle for limited, constitutional government is not.
Gene Healy
Reason Magazine
3/6/2012
…With Obama in the White House, Republicans are finally worried about the massive concentration of power in the executive. They’ve got plenty to worry about.
Among other things, with the waiver authority embedded in the Bush-era No Child Left Behind Act, the Obama Education Department has begun implementing federal curriculum standards in an area where the Constitution gives the federal government no authority whatsoever.
And, via the Clean Air Act, the administration has begun implementing comprehensive climate-change regulation, massively restructuring domestic energy use despite Congress’s refusal to pass “cap and trade.”
Most of the recent controversy over birth-control coverage under Obamacare has focused on whether Catholic hospitals will be required to provide contraception to their employees.
But even the concessions offered by the administration assume a staggering degree of presidential power. In the course of explaining the administration’s compromise, an Obama official told the Washington Post that “insurance companies will be required to reach out to directly offer contraceptive care free of charge” without raising premiums—per the president’s decision.
That is a disturbing amount of authority to put in one man’s hands—whatever his party. And whether or not Obama is defeated come November, the problem of power will remain.
Elections matter, but the contest for individual liberty is a long game…
Read the complete article at Reason.com
