At risk of being totally irrelevant, this is not the "worst bill ever".
That distinction would have to belong to legislation passed in the mid-nineteenth century, when Congress met to decide what to do about the President -- who made no secret of the fact that he had been seizing monarchial powers, and both provoking and pareparing to wage an internecine war.
But instead of undertaking the obvious step of impeaching the President, Congress instead voted to grant ex post facto approval to his unconstitutional actions, and to fully fund and support the war. A war which would see the slaughter of a generation of America's young men, and wholesale destruction of her domestic wealth.
"And be it further enacted, that all the acts, proclamations, and orders of the President of the United States after the fourth of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, respecting the army and navy of the United States, are hereby approved and in all respects legalized and made valid, to the same intent and with the same effect as if they had been issued and done under the previous express authority and direction of the Congress of the United States."
And at risk of becoming relevant again, Lincoln's actions are the true start of the Federal Government's treading upon of the core legislation of the USA. Obama couldn't push for nationalized health care today if his personal hero, Lincoln, hadn't asserted a right of Presidents to do whatever they wanted to for the nation's "good" apart from Constitutional authority. I feel that President Obama should be (respectfully, gently) rode out of DC on a rail. But I'm afraid I can't find any nice way to say what should have been done to Abraham Lincoln.
(Being P.C. is a foregone conclusion at this point, but let me just add that I'm not defending slavery, just saying that it was truly not necessary to kill hundreds of thousands of people to bring a region into the modern age -- perhaps a decade or so sooner than the shift would have happened anyway.)
So in summary, this is not the worst bill ever. They're just confiscating more of our money, and maybe counseling Granny to visit Dr. Kevorkian. Those things are bad, but things have been a whole lot worse around here.
Haha...yeah I see your point. I'm not quite as negative toward Lincoln as you and some others, but neither do I think he is the great hero that he is made out to be. I think Lincoln was a politician, and he did what he thought he had to do to survive politically and win the war. You're completely right that his actions were unconstitutional and opened the door to much greater abuses of executive power down the road.
Obviously, "worst bill ever" is a bit of hyperbole. But the House bill really is a terrible bill that will dramatically expand gov't power, destroy our health care, and likely bankrupt the country eventually. IMO, it's hard to overstate just what a mistake it would be for this bill to become law.
Re: "opened the door to much greater abuses of executive power" -- I can't think of any abuses of executive power worse than provoking and waging the Civil War, either since that time, or that seem to be on the immediate horizon right now.
But again, off topic, since That Guy's intent was doubtless hyperbole.
3 comments:
At risk of being totally irrelevant, this is not the "worst bill ever".
That distinction would have to belong to legislation passed in the mid-nineteenth century, when Congress met to decide what to do about the President -- who made no secret of the fact that he had been seizing monarchial powers, and both provoking and pareparing to wage an internecine war.
But instead of undertaking the obvious step of impeaching the President, Congress instead voted to grant ex post facto approval to his unconstitutional actions, and to fully fund and support the war. A war which would see the slaughter of a generation of America's young men, and wholesale destruction of her domestic wealth.
"And be it further enacted, that all the acts, proclamations, and orders of the President of the United States after the fourth of March, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, respecting the army and navy of the United States, are hereby approved and in all respects legalized and made valid, to the same intent and with the same effect as if they had been issued and done under the previous express authority and direction of the Congress of the United States."
And at risk of becoming relevant again, Lincoln's actions are the true start of the Federal Government's treading upon of the core legislation of the USA. Obama couldn't push for nationalized health care today if his personal hero, Lincoln, hadn't asserted a right of Presidents to do whatever they wanted to for the nation's "good" apart from Constitutional authority. I feel that President Obama should be (respectfully, gently) rode out of DC on a rail. But I'm afraid I can't find any nice way to say what should have been done to Abraham Lincoln.
(Being P.C. is a foregone conclusion at this point, but let me just add that I'm not defending slavery, just saying that it was truly not necessary to kill hundreds of thousands of people to bring a region into the modern age -- perhaps a decade or so sooner than the shift would have happened anyway.)
So in summary, this is not the worst bill ever. They're just confiscating more of our money, and maybe counseling Granny to visit Dr. Kevorkian. Those things are bad, but things have been a whole lot worse around here.
Haha...yeah I see your point. I'm not quite as negative toward Lincoln as you and some others, but neither do I think he is the great hero that he is made out to be. I think Lincoln was a politician, and he did what he thought he had to do to survive politically and win the war. You're completely right that his actions were unconstitutional and opened the door to much greater abuses of executive power down the road.
Obviously, "worst bill ever" is a bit of hyperbole. But the House bill really is a terrible bill that will dramatically expand gov't power, destroy our health care, and likely bankrupt the country eventually. IMO, it's hard to overstate just what a mistake it would be for this bill to become law.
Re: "opened the door to much greater abuses of executive power" -- I can't think of any abuses of executive power worse than provoking and waging the Civil War, either since that time, or that seem to be on the immediate horizon right now.
But again, off topic, since That Guy's intent was doubtless hyperbole.
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