Honoring the Will of the People

It looks like the President and Democrats in Congress are mounting a full court press to push for even grander schemes of government control. Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi apparently have no intention of honoring the 20th Amendment to the Constitution, designed to prevent a lame duck congress from overriding the will of the people in an election.

They’ve announced their intention to push legislation for more spending, taxing and government overreach before this Congress adjourns at the end of December.

Nancy Pelosi's made it clear she wants to hold on to everything she helped pass, no matter what the voters' intentions were.

But it's not just Congress. The White House is also trying to advance their big government agenda despite the will of voters…and maybe even involving Congress.

The president's favorite think tank, run by the hyper active progressive John Podesta, has just released a blueprint for executive action that the administration could use to do an end run around Congress. Called "The Power of the President; Recommendations to Advance Progressive Change," this 54-page report is a game plan for how to use executive powers to push the size and scope of government even further...in areas like carbon taxes, national health care and housing.

So what about "congressional oversight?" Well, according to the report, that messy process can be avoided by employing the power of the presidency:

"Concentrating on executive powers presents a real opportunity for the Obama administration to turn its focus away from a divided Congress and the unappetizing process of making legislative sausage."

So forget about congressional oversight…forget about the will of the people…. this president and his supporters feel that pushing their progressive agenda further is more important than considering whether that agenda was just voted down by the public.

Our own view is that John Podesta's strategy will fail. The people won't not stand for it. If the president does try to use it as an end run around Congress, the popular push back will make the tea party protests look like, well, tea parties.

It's time for folks like Podesta and Nancy Pelosi to wise up and accept the people's will, which was cast on November 2nd. If they don't, they'll find themselves even more powerless than they find themselves right now.