Paradise LOST
The ultimate line has been crossed, and hardly a word has been spoken by those who should be the most outraged. While everyone is focused on the latest Senate hearings on the Law of the Sea Treaty, the real story has gone virtually unreported. President Obama has attempted to cede sovereignty over U.S. oceans and inland waterways, as well as rights to oil, natural gas and mineral wealth therein, by executive order.
The contents of the Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) – twice submitted for ratification and twice refused by the Senate, the sole body constitutionally charged with ratifying treaties – has been “mandated” by Obama’s presidential pen. And the Senate did and said nothing in response. In fact, the Senate’s only real response has been to push for ratification of the Law of the Sea Treaty.
It could even be concluded that the current Senate hearings are merely an exercise to provide cover for Obama’s mind-blowing abuse of his office. Much like Congress rubber-stamps illegal wars with ex post facto authorizations, Congress appears to be pursuing ratification of LOST as a P.R. measure, to conceal the sobering reality from the larger American public: that where our nation’s sovereignty is concerned, Congress has been neutered and now exists as a symbol for those who still believe American democratic government is alive and well.
A simple reading of the executive order shows recent Senate ratification hearings to be moot:
Under Section 2 – Policy – paragraph b (ii) – (iii)
“(ii) cooperating and exercising leadership at the international level; (iii) pursuing the United States’ accession to the Law of the Sea Convention …”
Note how he frames his policy in accordance with “international law” and assumes the supremacy of the Law of the Sea Convention. American sovereignty thrown aside with the stroke of a pen.
Section 9 (c) states:
“In carrying out the provisions of this order and implementing the Final Recommendations, all actions of the Council and the executive departments, agencies, and offices that constitute it shall be consistent with applicable international law, including customary international law, such as that reflected in the Law of the Sea Convention.” (Emphasis added.)
In effect, LOST has been operational for a year, and is likely at varying stages of implementation. And chillingly, the Senate Judiciary Committee’s statutory window during which it is able to challenge executive orders has expired.
Executive instruments have at times been used to achieve statutory objectives blocked by congressional gridlock, but at every turn, the attempted use of these mechanisms to implement unconstitutional ends has been resisted by congressional representatives in the court system, usually with success. Public outcry, noticeably absent in this case due to public ignorance of the issue, is also typically a powerful deterrent against improper use of such mechanisms.
But never before has the text of an entire treaty been imposed on the American populace, especially one that includes transfers of natural resources to international organizations and a legally questionable global tax on these resources, without Senate approval.
Obama pushes further faster every week, governing with impudence and an utter disregard for our nation’s laws or the proper limits on presidential power. And the more he is permitted to do so by the conspicuously silent Republican Congress, the more brazen he becomes. Obama must wake up every day with the words, “What will I get away with today?” on his lips.
America arguably no longer has a president, elected and accountable, but a would-be king, despotic and unprincipled. Obama is growing ever more aggressive in his power plays, which is puzzling, considering that elections are fast approaching. Could it be that Obama is so sure of the election results he cares not what Americans think of his criminal behavior? His comments to Russian President Medvedev would seem to corroborate this line of thinking.
Congress has been so far content to stop at invective when it comes to the outrageous and lawless behavior of President Obama. Unfortunately, when a president is willing to stand before the American people and say that he doesn’t need Congress, that he doesn’t need the Supreme Court and allegedly threaten elected legislators with martial law to achieve passage of his prized power-grabs, more than discussion of the problem is needed. Discussion of the problem is the first in what should be a long series of legal responses to Obama’s criminal actions.
A president governing by executive fiat does not sit well with the American public, who are watching as their nation is sold out to the highest bidder, their freedoms (right to life, right to trial) are trampled underfoot, their jobs are placed under a “moratorium,” their country’s most precious national security secrets are given gratis to their enemies, and more recently, their vital natural resources are squandered by an illegitimate invasion of foreign bureaucrats invited by Obama’s hand.
Obama must be made to answer for his illicit conduct. And, as Obama has said, “We can’t wait.”
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