My name is Jack Houghton and I was the youngest Obama for America Fall Fellow (Community Organizer) in the state of Illinois, most likely the nation, last year. I will be attending the University of Iowa to study Political Science and I have been admitted to the Honors program with a large merit-based scholarship. I mention this so that when I write to you, you don’t think that I have been misinformed or that I am just some kid who doesn't know what he's talking about.
I write to you about an epidemic that has infected most of our Presidents since Abraham Lincoln, violating the Constitution. I quote the 15th amendment: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." This right was recalled by every single President including FDR, TR, JFK, and Eisenhower until LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which is completely redundant and worthless since the 15th amendment gave African Americans the right to vote in 1870. Every single President till LBJ slighted the Constitution by allowing for blacks' “inalienable” rights to be infringed upon. They failed to fulfill their constitutional duty to "take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed."
Although LBJ did not disobey the Constitution by denying Americans their rights, he did disregard the Constitution by bombing Cambodia without a declaration of War. Nixon, Ford, Reagan, H.W. Bush, Clinton, W. Bush and now Obama have all followed the footsteps of LBJ, conducting war without an official Declaration of War. For most of those Presidents, except Nixon, that's as far as they went to violate the Constitution, but W. Bush went further than that by rescinding the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th amendments by signing the Patriot Act and instituting Guantanamo Bay. However, this epidemic of unconstitutional rule by Presidents has taken over President Barack Obama more than any other President since Andrew Johnson, except Richard Nixon. President Obama, despite his campaign promises, has kept Guantanamo Bay open, reinstated the Patriot Act as the law of the land, and now has authorized the indefinite military detention, without trial, of American citizens. He declared an unconstitutional war on Libya without Congressional approval, continued undeclared unconstitutional wars against Iraq and Afghanistan, and depending on your view of cyber warfare, has by himself, without congressional consideration or knowledge, declared war on Iran.
On March 16th 2012 President Obama signed the National Defense Resources Preparedness Executive Order which gives the President the ability to control the entire economy during times of war and peace. In the NDRP Executive Order, Obama asserts absolute and unilateral control of American resources which, as you know, violated the 5th amendment by controlling property and resources without proper compensation. This executive order gives the President control over what companies produce, at what price they sell their products, and who they hire. This grab for power is unprecedented and there is a reason why Obama never campaigned on this or even sent this to the Congress for its consideration.
Obama also tampered with the Constitution by not enforcing the law. As every child in Elementary School learns, there are three branches of government with different powers: Congress passes laws, the President enforces laws, and the Judiciary interprets laws. Obama has now taken over all of the powers of all three branches of government. He passes his own laws, evidenced by the NDRP Executive Order. He interprets laws, evidenced in his recent declaration regarding deportation of children brought to the U.S. illegally. By violating his Constitutional duty to enforce the law, he now interprets for himself what is constitutional and what is not. I have read the Constitution many times and I never came across the section where the President is given the ability to determine which laws to enforce and what laws should not be enforced. By no longer enforcing the Defense of Marriage Act and most recently failing to enforce immigration laws he chooses (interprets) what laws to enforce.
President Obama has even admitted that what he did by not enforcing immigration laws is unconstitutional and that he is not given the power to choose which laws are worthy of enforcement. In a Univision Town Hall interview in March 2011 he said and I quote "With respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations through executive order, that's just not the case because there are laws on the books that Congress has passed, and I know that everybody at here at Bell is studying hard so you know that we got three branches of government: Congress passes the law, the Executive Branch's job is to enforce and implement those laws, and then the Judiciary has to interpret the laws. There are enough laws on the books, by Congress, that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system, that for me to simply through executive order to ignore those congressional mandates, would not conform with my appropriate role as President."
And just five days ago, June 15 2012, President Obama signed an executive order that did exactly what he declared “would not conform to my appropriate role as President.” Barack Obama, by his own standards of his role as President regarding the Constitution, violated his role as President of the United States. He trampled on the document he pledged himself to when he announced “I… will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." He did not preserve the Constitution by not enforcing the law, he did not protect it by stripping away 4 of the 10 Bill of Rights, and he did not defend it by signing the Patriot Act, NDAA, and the NDRP Executive Order. Obama entered into a legally binding contract by taking the oath and he has invalidated it time and time again.
Coming from a devout Democrat and a former Obama for America Fall Fellow, Obama is guilty of breach of contract, unfit for office, and by his own admission and his view of the Presidency, defied the document he swore he would preserve, protect, and defend.
