My must read of the day is "Executive-Order Overkill" in National Review:
President Obama’s progressive base has been growing impatient. Representative democracy has proved an inefficient vehicle through which to enact leftists’ desired agenda; as a result, they are increasingly demanding that their chief executive act as if the legislative branch did not exist.
Last week, the chairmen of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), Representatives Raul Grijalva (D., Ariz.) and Keith Ellison (D., Minn.), wrote a letter urging Obama to sign an executive order raising the minimum wage for workers employed under federal contracts. Dozens of CPC members had been demanding such action for months. "It’s frustrating," Ellison told the National Journal. Obama and most congressional Democrats have spoken out in favor of a nationwide minimum-wage hike, but the effort has stalled because the proposal is unlikely to pass either chamber. […]
Last week, Obama issued an executive order directing all federal agencies to more than double their current use of renewable energy sources to 20 percent by 2020. In November, following months of pressure from Democrats and environmental activists, the Environmental Protection Agency issued new regulations placing limits on carbon emissions from new coal-fired power plants. Activists have lobbied hard for the White House to do the same for existing power plants, among other things, ever since the push for cap-and-trade legislation was derailed in 2010.
Executive orders and unilateral administrative actions are becoming the president’s primary vehicle for achieving his ends, and they are likely to define his second term.
What Andrew Stiles in NRO points out is something liberals should be wary of: Democrats will hate these kinds of tactics when a Republican is in power. But perhaps the most interesting thing is that Democrats don’t seem to care. Surely they have made that calculation and know Republicans could employ these methods at some point in the future (as Republican presidents have done in the past).
Democrats and liberals cheer circumventing Congress with the hope that once people experience liberal policies, they’ll look back and say thanks – like a child whose mother insists he try a new food. A plan predicated on hope is always a gamble, and a reliance on executive action has given us a presidency that approaches its relations with Congress as mere formalities.