The Imperial Presidency
BY Herschel Smith
9 years, 6 months ago
Congress is being urged to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade plan even though most have not read it, and a leading gun-rights activist says the plan could give President Obama the power to limit the importation of ammunition and implement his political agenda in many different ways.
“Fast track authority in the context of this treaty means a blank check,” said Gun Owners of America Executive Director Larry Pratt.
“By a majority vote, the Congress is preparing to give the president authorization to negotiate a treaty. When he brings it back, it would take two thirds of the Senate to vote it down because of the way they set up the parliamentary system,” Pratt told WND.
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, debate is made even more bizarre by the intense secrecy surrounding the proposed treaty. A Politico article described the hoops lawmakers must jump through just to see the bill.
“If you want to hear the details of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal the Obama administration is hoping to pass, you’ve got to be a member of Congress, and you’ve got to go to classified briefings and leave your staff and cellphone at the door,” stated the article by Edward-Isaac Dovere.
“If you’re a member who wants to read the text, you’ve got to go to a room in the basement of the Capitol Visitor Center and be handed it one section at a time, watched over as you read, and forced to hand over any notes you make before leaving,” Dovere continued. “And no matter what, you can’t discuss the details of what you’ve read.”
Pratt is appalled that the public is getting no chance to weigh in on TPP.
“This is incredible. This is the administration that advertised itself as the most transparent that there ever would be. Give me a break. This is really going to the other extreme. Where is the objection just on procedure, let alone any of the details,” said Pratt.
If the terms of TPP are under lock and key, how does Pratt know that Obama is poised to restrict ammunition imports?
“I don’t know that it’s there. I’m just assuming that a guy that’s done everything he can heretofore with his pen, as he said he would do, will do it again when he’s given a blank check,” said Pratt, who says Second Amendment defenders aren’t the only ones who should be worried.
“It’s not just guns. We could be talking about any number of other subjects where the president could just go hog wild,” he said. “For people who say, ‘Just because you haven’t seen the treaty, why are you objecting?’ Wait a minute, the only time anybody will be able to see the treaty is when it’s too late to do anything.”
In government, secrecy is the enemy of honesty and righteous rule. That’s why this administration has been so loath to tell anyone anything about what it’s doing.
But I’ve come to the conclusion that this administration has actually been a good thing for America, albeit painful. Heretofore, we only thought of the democrats as the gun grabbers, collectivists and advocates of socialized medicine, and big government control freaks.
But this administration has forced the GOP to tell the world what it’s all about. So for instance, Senators like John Thune (and many others) who voted to confirm Loretta Lynch have told us that they think just like the democrats. Anyone who enables this president to press his ill-conceived ideas on America is a traitor, and that includes GOP and democrats alike. And they deserve to be treated as traitors.
On May 10, 2015 at 11:33 pm, Daniel Barger said:
According to the Constitution ALL treaties require a two thirds majority approval by the Senate.
A change in ‘procedure’ to require two thirds to block a treaty is not legal therefore any treaty
Obozo brings home is INVALID unless approved by said two thirds. Not that they won’t try to
ram it down our throats….but they won’t be able to do it legally.
On May 11, 2015 at 1:08 pm, eskyman said:
Maybe it’s just my cynicism, but I haven’t noticed that ‘legality’ is something that concerns this mis-administration. They’re shredding the Constitution, right out in the open, and no one is lifting a finger to stop them.
I won’t be climbing into that cattle car until I’ve donated all my ammunition to the government, preferably one round at a time.
On May 11, 2015 at 3:35 pm, Pat Hines said:
The US government hasn’t worried about “legality” since 1861, that was when the US president ordered an invasion of certain states in violation of Article III, Section III of the US Constitution. The US government has been rogue since that time.
On May 12, 2015 at 12:14 am, Daniel Barger said:
As I said….they might do it…..and they may claim it’s ‘legal’….but it won’t be.