Don’t Forget: WE Are the Checks and Balances on Trump’s Executive Actions

In his first few days in office, President Donald Trump has attacked the presidency with gusto, issuing a slew of executive actions on everything from a federal hiring freeze to the long promised border wall. Maybe he is eager to prove himself effective, maybe he wants to get started fulfilling campaign promises, or maybe this kind of energy will be typical of his administration even after the new starts to wear off. It’s impossible to say.

So far, the response from the Right has largely been to cheer for the new president. Many on the Right have applauded his zeal to get things done, especially things that conservatives have been asking for so long. After all, easing the burden of Obamacare is certainly important, and the hiring freeze is well within the rights of the executive branch as well as a much needed check on the size of government.

But before we engage in too public jubilation, I would advise conservatives and libertarians to be a bit more circumspect in their praise. The danger of hypocrisy, and of turning into the mirror image of our ideological opponents, is a real one.

Barack Obama was routinely criticized by the Right for his executive overreach and apparent contempt for Congress. His “I’ve got a pen and a phone” comment sent chills down the spine of anyone who valued limited government. He started wars without congressional approval, acted unilaterally on immigration enforcement, and frequently used regulations in place of laws to push forward his agenda. Conservatives howled and liberals sat smugly silent, pleased that “their guy” was doing whatever it took to get around that obstructionist “party of no” in the minority.

Now the situation is reversed. Democrats are in the minority, and are freaking out about Trump’s executive actions. Republicans, on the whole, have either been silent or celebratory, as Trump uses the power of the executive branch to move his agenda forward.

So what’s wrong with that? Politics is all about getting your agenda passed by any means necessary, and resisting that of your opponents, right? Maybe for some people, but there is at least a large share of conservatives and libertarians who operate under a principled belief that too much government power is dangerous, regardless of who happens to be in office. Giving the executive branch unchecked authority may work out well some of the time, but that can come back to bite you when the other side inevitably regains power, as Democrats are learning now.

The founders very specifically created a system with built in checks and balances, a separation of powers, a process by which no one branch of government — much less one person — could do too much damage before the others would rein him in. This is the process that led to America becoming the world’s greatest success story, creating previously unheard of wealth and freedom for its people. This process matters. It could even be argued that it matters more than results, because once the process collapses, there’s nothing to stand in the way of tyranny and oppression, as we see in other undemocratic countries the world over.

This process is what allowed Republicans to block Obama’s Supreme Court nomination, something almost all conservatives will agree was a good thing. Without it, we’d have Merrick Garland on the Supreme Court right now, with who knows what consequences for the laws of the country. But you can bet that when Trump names his own nominee, and Democrats try to resist, a lot of the same people who cheered Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. (F, 40%) for blocking Garland will change their tune, calling for the Senate to change its rules and approve the nominee with a simple majority. This is shortsighted thinking.

Not all of Trump’s actions so far have been overreach. Some are well within his purview, and I must admit that I’m pleased with some (though certainly not all) of the policies. For example, putting temporary freeze on hiring within the executive branch is constitutional, and appropriate to be addressed by the chief executive. However, demanding that the Keystone pipeline be built with only U.S. made steel is something that Congress should be responsible for, not the president. Once Trump gets into the habit of having everything he wants, with no resistance from Congress, the courts, or the people, there will be nothing to stop him from legislating from the White House.

You can’t have it both ways. Either you believe in limited government, or you don’t. That belief shouldn’t change with the inhabitant of the White House, or else it’s no true belief at all. (For more from the author of “Don’t Forget: WE Are the Checks and Balances on Trump’s Executive Actions” please click HERE)

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