Here we go again! Once more with feeling!
I think I could write a blog posting on this topic every day. Every day, it seems, there is another example of how our current president has profoundly failed to understand what presidents are supposed to do - or, in the alternative, has decided to try to get away with things that he knows are wrong, and that are fundamental violations of what the United States Constitution provides.
Presidents, by virtue of their election to our nation's highest office, are given significant power and responsibility. They are not, though, elected to "be" the nation, as a "king," for instance, incorporates in himself the entirety of the nation over which he "reigns."
Presidents, under the Constitution, do not "reign." They "execute." They "faithfully execute" the laws enacted by the Congress. That is their main responsibility, and the powers that presidents are given are limited to the powers necessary to do that. If you read many of my blog postings, you will remember that this is not the first time I have made this point.
An article in April 10, 2025, edition of The New York Times has sent me to my computer once again, to type out another mesage on this beloved topic. The news story was titled (hard-copy edition), "Trump Deploys Shortcuts As He Moves to Eliminate Many Federal Regulations." If you click the following link, to read the article online (and if no paywall defeats your efforts), you will find another headline: "Trump’s New Way to Kill Regulations: Because I Say So." Here is an excerpt from the article (emphasis added):
President Trump this week directed 10 federal agencies — including the Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy Department and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission — to implement a novel procedure to scrap a wide array of longstanding energy and environmental regulations.
He told agencies that oversee everything from gas pipelines to power plants to insert “sunset” provisions that would cause regulations to automatically expire by October 2026. If the agencies wanted to keep a rule, it could only be extended for a maximum of five years at a time.
Experts say the directive faces enormous legal hurdles. But it was one of three executive orders from Mr. Trump on Wednesday in which he declared that he was pursuing new shortcuts to weaken or eliminate regulations.
In another order, he directed a rollback of federal rules that limit the water flow in shower heads with a highly unusual legal justification: Because I say so. “Notice and comment is unnecessary because I am ordering the repeal,” Mr. Trump’s order said.
Another article, in the same edition of The Times, provided information on books that were removed from the library at the United States Naval Academy, based on a directive from the Secretary of Defense. This article also listed some books that were allowed to remain on the shelves. The books being eliminated reflected, presumably, our current president's operating principle ("because I say so"). Not to keep you in suspense, 381 books were removed from the library, including, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou, and Memorializing The Holocaust by Janet Jacobs. Multiple copies of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler are still available for checkout (which, of course, I strongly believe should be available).
These two news items from a week ago have led me to this reiteration of my point about presidential power. The president is asserting powers that he does not, actually, have - but, of course, if we don't stop his abuse of his office, and the assertion of the non-legitimate powers he claims, we are actually giving away our own.
Foundation of Freedom
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