The men who put their lives on the line when they signed the Declaration of Independence were keenly aware of the perils and dangers to liberty posed by the notion of the divine right of kings. For thousands of years, it was believed in many of the kingdoms of Europe that a king was divine and above the law and very few ever questioned that notion.
But as the taxes mounted and liberties became more restricted, the freedom-loving men of the 13 British colonies in the Americas began to rebel against the King of England and, as they say, the rest is history. With the victory over the King, our founders looked to form a new kind of government the democratic experiment known as the United States was formed with the power to govern divided between three branches of government, all separate but equal.
These notions are the founding bedrock of our nation and many have died over the past two centuries for these principles and now there is concern that things are not as they once were. We must never forget that Congress makes the law, the president executes it, and the judicial branch enforces the law. The separation of powers must be distinct and enforced as this issue that transcends this Congress and this president.
President Obama has made numerous changes to his health-care law without the consent of Congress. The president twice made unilateral changes to his health-care law without going through Congress, which effectively created his own law by waiving the mandate and the penalties for failing to comply with it.
With the president legislating without the legislative branch combined with the Democrat-controlled Senate willing to sit on its hands when it comes to the president's edicts, House Republicans felt it was time for drastic action. What is at stake is future Congresses and future presidents.
This week, I supported a House resolution that gives the Speaker of the House the authority to initiate litigation for actions by the president or other executive branch officials alleged to be inconsistent with their Constitutional duties. The resolution represents the first of many steps needed to bring suit against President Obama. Now that is has been approved by the House, the resolution will be sent to a federal judge for a decision on whether or not the House has legal standing to pursue the case. If a judge rules that the House does, in fact, have the standing to pursue the lawsuit, it would move to a federal court.
Each day that we do nothing, the greater the likelihood the executive power will continue to grow unabated until our nation wakes up one day and realizes that it squandered its birthright of representative democracy and replaced it with a king or, worse yet, a dictatorship. The power of the people can never be silenced and that is why passing this resolution is a step to keeping your voices as the cornerstone of our democracy and our nation.
U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer, R-Mo., represents Missouri's 3rd District.