Back in the days of Spain’s colonization of the New World, the king’s viceroys would royal decrees with the phrase, “Obedezco, pero no cumplo” — I obey, but I do not carry out. Pres. George W. Bush has the same attitude when it comes to congressional attempts to limit his power.
When Bush signed the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act this month, he added an addendum to the law, which in effect said he would not comply with some requirements of the law if he felt it necessary. In other words, he was writing his own loophole into the law.
While presidents have frequently added addenda to laws to specify how they interpret such laws, Bush has apparently taken the practice to new heights (or lows, as the case may be). Experts say Bush has expanded the idea of executive power in a way not seen since Richard M. NIxon.
From the Boston Globe:
Members of both parties have pointed out that the Constitution gives the legislative branch the power to write the laws and the executive branch the duty to ”faithfully execute” them.
Bush is bending the “faithfully” part just a little too much. The addendum was added quietly after the public signing, after the gallery cleared. So much for an open democracy.
Bush has done this addendum trick twice before, saying that his “wartime” powers enable him to essentially follow the nation’s laws as the occasion suits. The Spanish viceroys did the same, interpreting the power granted to them by the crown to become petty dictators of their colonies. Since the Spanish king was thousands of miles away, there was not much he or anyone else could do to squelch the viceroy’s liberal interpretation of their power.
That is, until the colonies’ populations revolted.
The check on Bush’s power is not an ocean away, but it might as well be. The reaction to Bush’s non-compliance behavior has been muted, to say the least. The media reported the fact with little fanfare, and Congress, with the possible exception of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., seems content to let the whole process slide by.
We should not let it happen. During World War II, which was a real war, not an invasion of another country, the critics of Franklin Delano Roosevelt screamed bloody murder when FDR began exercising his wartime powers. They called him an American dictator. Now, we seem content to let Bush to have his way, despite ample evidence that he has no idea how to run a war or a country.
In old Spain, the kings would sign documents simply, “Yo, el Rey“. No name was required, because everyone knew who was in charge. If we do not put a restraint on our executive’s powers, how long do you expect it will take before he can sign documents, “I, the president?”
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