Dear Conservative,
The executive branch has an enormous amount of power and thanks to President Obama’s time in office, that power has expanded over the past 6 years.
The result of this extended power is that an overbearing executive branch comes into conflict with individual rights and liberties as it continues its expansion. The IRS scandal is an excellent example of how executive bureaucracy will go to any length to protect and perpetuate its own existence.
While the President does have extraordinary power over the executive branch, there are safeguards in place to prevent fraud and abuse. Inspectors general serve as a watchdog element to stop these bloated bureaucracies from devolving into tyranny and lawlessness. But what happens when these Inspectors General are shut out? What happens when members of the President’s inner circle deliberately try to thwart investigations into the Executive branch bureaucracies?
That is exactly what is happening at the Environmental Protection Agency! EPA Assistant Inspector General Patrick Sullivan testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that the EPA’s Office of Homeland Security, run by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, is currently acting as a “rogue law enforcement organization.” A unit run by Barack Obama’s political staff has been blocking independent investigations for years and preventing the Inspector General from doing his job.
Time and time again, when the Obama administration is forced to choose between transparency and opacity, it chooses the latter. This is corruption at its absolute worst!
This isn’t just a story about the EPA. Yes, that part of the story is important and should serve as a smoking gun, showing just how corrupt the Obama administration has become. But the story is much larger than just this one agency. Across the board, government agencies’ corrupt elements are being revealed. Not through legitimate investigation, but through the Obama administration’s resistance to oversight efforts.
The greatest comedy over the past six years is that as lawless as the Obama administration may be, many of the checks and balances designed to curtail White House abuses happen to have a serious conflict of interest.
The DC Circuit Court of Appeals is charged with determining whether executive orders and bureaucratic regulations are constitutional. Last year, Harry Reid abolished the filibuster to allow Democrats to pack this court with Obama supporters. That check has been all but eliminated.
The Attorney General is supposed to enforce the law of the land. Unfortunately, Eric Holder has no intention of upholding anything. He refuses to enforce our immigration laws and has refused to defend laws passed by Congress when they come up before the Supreme Court. When Congress held Eric Holder in contempt, they turned the case over to… Eric Holder! As if this corrupt Obama appointee would ever police himself…
Now we have a branch within the Environmental Protection Agency that refuses to cooperate with independent investigators. The EPA already has a number of excuses that it uses to avoid oversight. The agency uses “public health” and “environmental protection” as excuses to explain away its actions. These latest discoveries show that the White House actually staffed the EPA’s Office of Homeland Security with Obama supporters for the sole purpose of blocking oversight investigations.
First of all, why on earth does the EPA need an Office of Homeland Security? The actual Department of Homeland Security is redundant enough as it is… why does the EPA need its own miniature, in-house version? The answer is simple. Now, whenever the Obama administration wants something to go away or for an investigation to stop, this small unit of Obama staffers can claim that a program or regulation is in the name of “national security.”
A lot of this is the Republicans’ fault. Both parties have contributed to the rise of national security justifications for illegal actions. We have been conditioned to just accept that whenever the goal is national security, the ends always justify the means. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.
The Obama administration’s politicization of this EPA unit shows just how corrupt our government has become. When confronted over environmental regulations and the EPA’s inner workings, the White House has actually tried to claim immunity and confidentiality by arguing the agency protects national security. The only things that the EPA protects are the wallets and bank accounts of the environmental lobby.
The Obama administration is out of control. But quite frankly, party affiliation has nothing to do with it. The Executive branch has grown to be so corrupt that it will stop at nothing to protect itself and shield itself from investigations. Even if it means claiming “national security” to stop investigations into the Environmental Protection Agency, the modern Presidency knows no shame.
This is completely absurd, but it is unfortunately our fault. We have allowed the Executive branch to become so bloated and corrupt. We have been conditioned by both political parties to accept “national security” as an excuse for practically anything. Enough is enough! We must regain the role of We the People in Executive oversight and force Congress to actually do its job!
It doesn’t have to be this way. Your voice is represented by Congress and it is Congress that is supposed to oversee the Executive branch. It is time to stop allowing the Obama administration to police itself (ridiculous, huh?) and FINALLY have Congress resume its role in overseeing the Executive! The only way to stop the Obama administration’s lawlessness is to ensure that the administration isn’t policing itself!
Sincerely,
Joe Otto
Conservative Daily
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