The Executive Order

Every President since George Washington has issued what we have come to know as an "Executive Order". There is a loose basis for the legality of the Executive Order in the Constitution, giving the President the power to "take care that the laws are faithfully executed"; being used to guide the Executive branch of the Government in carrying out its duties...

According to USA.gov, the federal government’s official portal, “presidents use executive orders to direct and manage how the federal government operates.”

Until the 1900's most Executive Orders went unpublished and unseen by anyone other than the agency the Order was intended for. Some were used to acquire public land, some to regulate industry and trade. Others have had far greater impact.

The Emancipation Proclamation was an Executive Order. So was the New Deal. President Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War; President Roosevelt established internment camps during World War II; The Desegregation of the Armed Forces in 1948 are all examples of Executive Orders.

Then there's Woodrow Wilson and his fascination with the Panama Canal. Back when men were men, they would hunt, at night, by torch. This was so widespread in the Canal zone that Wilson E.O. 1884 made the use of hunting with a "lantern, torch, bonfire, or other artificial light" a misdemeanor.

Bill Clinton took the United States to Kosovo with an Executive Order. In fact, the issue of how much military power a President may exercise by EO remains unresolved.

But don't think a President may use the Executive Order freely. In 1952 Harry Truman issued Executive Order 10340, putting steel mills with striking workers under federal control. The Order was challenged, and the Supreme Court ruled it invalid in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co V Saywer because it attempted to make law, rather than clarify or act to further a law put forth by the Congress or the Constitution.

It was Roosevelt who issued the most executive orders, according to records at the National Archives. He issued 3,728 orders between 1933 and1945, as the country dealt with the Great Depression and World War II. President George W. Bush, issued 291 orders over eight years, while President Bill Clinton had 364 executive orders during his two terms in office.Barack Obama, as of Jan 14, 2014 has issued 167.

These have included everything from Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change and Establishment of the Presidential Commission of Election Administration to a much more controversial subject... an update to an Executive Order created in 1994, on “National Defense Industrial Resources Preparedness”.

This order gives the president the power to take control of all domestic energy supplies for the purpose of protecting national security, as well as, delegating greater power to each cabinet member to achieve this.

Fox News points out:

The President granted to himself the authority to approve the dispensing of all domestic energy, production, transportation, food, and water supplies as he deems necessary to protect national security.

Despite the national defense hurdle that ostensibly must be jumped in order for the order to take effect, the text of the document itself does not limit implementation to a time of war. In fact, the specific sections of the order make it clear that the President can take complete command and control of the country’s natural resources in peacetime, as well.

President Obama has promised to use more of these Orders in the final two years of his Presidency with advisers telling the press he's warmed up to the idea, but thus far this President seems to be on track to issue the least amount of orders of any two term President, though still landing in the Top 10.

Fear the Order

So now that we have a good handle on what the lay of the land is in the United States regarding Executive Orders, what exactly is everyone so afraid of? Why does a Presidents use of this tool provoke such fear?

The great experiment that is the United States of America functions because power has been restrained, broken apart, and then weaved back together with a system of carefully crafted checks and balance. This system was put in place to protect against the oppression of the "American society" by its ruling class.

The very definition of tyranny is the concentration of Executive, Legislative and Judicial power in one branch of the government or one individual. Rule by Executive Order, instead of by the Will of the People.

Executive actions on guns, switching off the internet at will, putting people in FEMA camps, Marshall Law... these are all fears stoked when the President uses an Executive Order to make law.

Nation rise and nations fall. People become free, and then fall into slavery again. Many of the worlds most significant civilizations have died not from outside assault, but rather from internal deterioration.

Can a President use Executive Order to manipulate society? Yes. And with no clear opposition it would be very hard for anyone to alter that decision. A bigger and more important question is, should he?

America CAN die and disappear from the Earth, and today we are in far greater danger of straying from our founding principles than ever before. Unless this course is corrected, unless our founding principles are honored, we may end up but a footnote in history...