In a letter to the Lancaster Newspapers captioned “End-run around Constitution”, retiredElizabethtown College professor Paul Gottfried writes:
“In order to get an even tighter lock-hold on the Latino vote in the November election (according to polls, he already has about three-quarters of it), Obama legalized the presence of as many as 800,000 illegal residents under the age of 30.
“Last year at a press conference, the president indicated he could not take such a step, even if he had wanted to: That decision could only be made by Congress. But since Obama continues to fall in the polls while being faced with unpleasant economic reports, what the heck! Why not try an end-run around the Constitution. After all, Hollywood and Obama’s liberal donor base will support him no matter what, and so will a majority of Americans, according to polls taken this week.”
We would remind the professor that history is the prelude to the future. The extreme position of thwarting President Obama’s ability to lead taking by the right of the Republican Party has pushed the president into actions that are in turn extreme.
We refer Professor Gottfried to the history of 120 years preceding the fall of the Roman Republic when a break down in cooperation and civility within the Senate escalated into abuse, violence and civil wars. If this seems too long ago, then consider the prelude to our own Civil War.
Abuse begets abuse. He is right to be saddened. But he needs to examine cause as well as effect.
We welcome his rebuttal.
