Dear Conservative,

We are unfortunately living in truly historic times. Just this past year alone has had some of the biggest Executive Branch power-grabs in US History. The Constitution of the United States clearly enumerates what the President is authorized to do as Commander-in-Chief and the country’s Top Executive. Any actions not explicitly authorized can only viewed as unconstitutional power-grabs!

Early in his first term, the Administration launched its “We Can’t Wait” initiative, promising that when Congress fails to act, the President will. Earlier this year, Obama promised that he would “not allow gridlock, or inaction, or willful indifference to get in [his] way.” This is Obama’s delicate way of saying he will openly violate the constitution! And he has on numerous occasions!

So as the year comes to a close, I present to you President Obama’s top-ten impeachable offenses of 2013 that Congress has completely ignored!

10. Obama’s Decision to Delay the Obamacare Employer Mandate

In early July, the Obama Administration Announced that it would delay the employer mandate within the Affordable Care Act. This is the provision in the law that requires businesses with at least 50 employees to provide them health insurance, or pay a hefty fine. With the stroke of a pen, Obama decided to give these businesses an extra year before they had to meet this requirement. While the administration does have “statutory authority” over certain reporting requirements, it was unconstitutional for the administration to unilaterally delay the mandate.

9. The IRS’ Targeting of Conservative Groups 

While this stretches back all the way to 2010, the abusive practices continued up until May 2013. The IRS compiled a “Be On The Lookout” list, instructing employees to devote extra scrutiny to organizations seeking tax exempt status if they were related to the “Tea Party,” focused on out-of-control government spending or taxes, and those that openly criticize the government (among other things). There is no doubt that high-ranking White House staffers knew about the targeting program weeks, if not months, before it was ultimately stopped. President Nixon also used the IRS to target his opponents, and we all remember how that turned out…

8. Obama’s Unconstitutional Recess Appointments

Last year, President Obama appointed three people to the National Labor Relations Board and one person to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He believed that he could do this because the Senate was in recess. While the Constitution affords the Senate the right to confirm nominees for high-level Executive positions, the President has the right to unilaterally appoint people to these positions if the Senate is in recess. Obama asserted this power, even though the Senate was technically still in session. In January of this year, the D.C. Circuit ruled that these appointments were completely unconstitutional.

Tell Congress that it time to open its eyes and IMPEACH President Obama!

7. Obama’s Unlawful Use of Executive Privilege

The US Government is designed to provide a system of checks and balances to theoretically ensure that no single branch of government can devolve into tyranny. The Legislative and Judicial Branches are charged with holding the power-hungry Executive Branch in check. However when either branch tries to investigate into the Obama administrations numerous scandals, the President classifies the information under “Executive Privilege.” The Supreme Court has ruled that Executive Privilege cannot be used to classify illegal activities. However since many of these invocations of Executive Privilege are designed to protect the Department of Justice, the same body in charge of prosecuting illicit activity, the Obama administration has been able to hide its criminal activities. This violation of the law is only a drop in the bucket. From Fast and Furious, to Benghazi, to the IRS scandal, to domestic spy programs, to the Obamacare Rollout, the Obama administration has stopped Congress from performing its oversight duties by bullying witnesses and breaking the law.

6. Obama’s Illegal War on the Second Amendment

Over the past year, we have kept you up to date of how the Obama Administration was trying to sidestep Congress to enact federal gun control. The Second Amendment says “shall not be infringed” for a reason. And frankly, all gun control is inherently unconstitutional, regardless of which branch of government it originates from. But President Obama gun control initiatives are especially unconstitutional because they represent clear Executive overreach. This past summer, the President unilaterally prohibited the re-importation of US WWII rifles. Many of these rifles were loaned to countries during the Cold War, and with the terms of the loan over, these countries have tried to send the rifles back to us. With a stroke of a pen, the President outlawed the re-importation of these WWII relics, preventing our veterans and citizens from owning pieces of American history. While most of Obama’s executive gun control orders were meaningless, this one unlawfully banned the importation of already legal firearms.

5. Obama’s Unprecedented Expansion of Domestic Spying

The year 2013 was not kind to President Obama when it came to the nation’s surveillance programs. All year long, whistleblowers have shed light on unconstitutional surveillance programs that unlawfully collect data on law-abiding Americans. Though the Fourth Amendment protects against unlawful searches and seizures, the Obama administration somehow believes it has the right to spy on every single American without a warrant. The scope is vast, stretching from monitoring Americans’ computer keystrokes and examining the meta-data of Americans’ phone calls, all the way to wire-tapping the phones of world leaders. The Obama administration has also unapologetically targeted journalists, claiming that the surveillance was necessary for “national security” purposes.

4. Obama Deliberately Tried to Make the Government Shutdown “Painful.”

When the House of Representatives and the Senate failed to reach a budget agreement this past fall, the Federal government went into a shut-down. While essential services remained up and running, all non-essential government employees were told to stay home from work. Rather than trying to broker an agreement between the Democrats and Republicans, the President instructed his cabinet members to make the shutdown as painful as possible for the American people. We all remember how barriers were erected at the WWII memorial to stop our brave veterans from visiting it. But there were also unnecessary barriers erected around bike paths, parking lots, and national parks, all in an attempt to deliberately limit the public’s access to these areas. This was all done in an attempt to make millions of Americans suffer and blame the Republicans for their suffering. Any President who would go out of his way to maximize the hardship placed on Americans has no business occupying the White House!

Tell Congress that it time to open its eyes and IMPEACH President Obama!

3. Obama Admin. Defiantly Signs the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty

During the summer of 2013, the United Nations introduced its latest Arms Trade Treaty and began the process of collecting signatures. The treaty, which bans the import/export of legal firearms and opens the door for firearm registration and confiscation, is clearly a violation of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. In October, the Senate voted 53-46 to stop the United States from ratifying the treaty (way short of the 67 vote threshold). However the President defiantly instructed Secretary of State John Kerry to sign the unconstitutional treaty anyway!

2. The President’s Illegal Implementation of the Dream-Act

The so-called “Dream Act” was introduced into Congress as a way to lessen the punishments for illegal immigrants who were brought into this country as children. In many ways, this type of legislation can make sense. It is counter-productive to punish people for crimes they could not legally have consented to, especially for those who have served in the military or received college degrees. While some of the provisions were valuable, Congress ultimately voted against the measure. President Obama, furious that Congress would go against his agenda, chose to use his executive orders to illegally bypass the Legislative branch to enact this legislation!

1. The President Repeatedly Lied to the American People about Obamacare.

We’ve heard it many times. “If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it,” the President routinely promised us. Well not only did that end up being a complete lie, but evidence suggests that the President knew it was a lie for quite some time. We could not keep our health insurance and it certainly wouldn’t be affordable! This deception was aimed at pushing back against Republicans arguing the Affordable Care Act would force millions of people off of their insurance. The President called these Republicans, including Mitt Romney, liars. This deception was essential in convincing the American people to support the flawed healthcare law and to give Obama a second term in office. If a President can be impeached for lying to the American people about his sexual exploits, then repeatedly lying to the American people to win an election is without a doubt impeachable!

These are only ten of the worst Presidential abuses of power in 2013 and there are many more that could have or should have made the list. It is depressing that I actually had to pick-and-choose which impeachable offenses to include, and I was only looking at this past year!

We unfortunately live in a world where the President of the United States routinely violates the Constitution and tries to expand the scope of Presidential power. However with each unconstitutional act, Congress does absolutely NOTHING to keep the President in line.

Congress has the Constitutional RESPONSIBILITY to ensure that the Executive Branch operates within the confines of the law. Yet with each scandal, Congress either ignores the President’s unlawful behavior or is complicit in it!

Is this what you want from YOUR representatives? Do you think it is acceptable for Congress to turn a blind to the President’s unconstitutional actions?

You must let your voice be heard! You must hold Congress accountable!

Tell Congress that there is no room for an Imperial President in the White House!

Sincerely,

Joe Otto


Conservative Daily