I do not want another President, Democrat or Republican, who is not constitutional.  I do not want another four or eight years of lawlessness, ignoring the Constitution, bypassing Congress and thumbing his/her nose at the courts.  I want a President who knows the Constitution and is 100% committed to obeying, following, defending, and protecting it and the God-given Constitutional Rights of the American people.

We have endured over seven years of a President who operates as an Imperial Potentate who appears to believe that because he is president he can do whatever he wants.  He has operated as though he believes he has a divine right to use his pen and phone at will in executive orders or actions contrary to the constitution.  He has been petulant, thin-skinned, vindictive, and manipulative waging war on anyone or anything that disagrees with him.  He has abused the power of the presidency more than anyone in my lifetime and possibly American history.  He has alienated our allies while empowering and emboldening our enemies.  He and his Party have engineered actions that will severely hinder America from recovering for decades if she can recover.

I do not want a President who envisions him/herself as King or Queen but one that knows, understands, respects, and obeys the Constitution of these United States of America.  I do not want a President who violates the Separation of Powers and writes legislation via Executive Edict even if what that President does is something I would like to see happen.  The Constitution does not change based on which Party is in Power, it is THE CONSTITUTION and that is a CONSTANT.  We may not like the law but if it is the law and constitutional it must be enforced and we dare not be content with a President arbitrarily bypassing or changing that law.  What we like this time, we may hate the next time and if we are to protect Constitutional Rights of one we must protect them of all.  We have a system of government through which laws are written, passed, and signed or vetoed by the President.  The President is not allowed by the Constitution to pick and choose which laws he/she will enforce. 

Abraham Lincoln once said, “The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly.”  The Constitution, Article II, Section 3 requires the President to “take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.”  This requires the President to enforce all constitutionally valid Acts of Congress, regardless of his view as to the wisdom or rightness of those policies.  There is no discretionary power afforded the President to “pick and choose” what he will enforce and what he will ignore.  The Supreme Court has clearly and adamantly rejected the authority of the President to refuse to enforce constitutional laws.  In 1838, Kendall v. United States ex rel. Stokes, regarding the President’s refusal to comply with an act of Congress.  The court ruled, “[t]o contend that the obligations imposed on the President to see the laws faithfully executed, implies a power to forbid their execution; is a novel construction of the constitution, and entirely inadmissible.”  The court further noted that permitting the executive branch noncompliance with the statute “would be vesting in the President a dispensing power, which has no countenance for its support in any part of the constitution; and is asserting a principle, which, if carried out in its results, to all cases falling within it, would be clothing the President with a power to control the legislation of Congress, and paralyze the administration of justice.”  Is that clear enough?  The President has LIMITED POWERS and is not an IMPERIAL POTENTATE.

I have heard various candidates declare what they will do as President and some of those proclamations fly in the face of the Constitution.  I may agree with their proposal but UNLESS it goes through the Constitutional process it is WRONG to achieve the objective illicitly and illegally.  Too many, in this year’s political process are moved more by emotion than clear thinking reason and, to me, that is a very dangerous situation.  We have witnessed the result of a President acting as though he had arbitrary tyrannical powers and it is not a pretty picture.  We cannot adopt a “turn-about fair play” mentality but must strictly adhere to the Constitution if the Republic has any chance of survival.

I do not think it possible, at this juncture, for many to move beyond their determined devotion to their particular candidate and honestly and diligently vet the proposals, declarations, assertions and ideologies presented.  We do not, for the most part, do due diligence in our vetting and research, but resort to accepting biased websites, soundbites, and allow our frustrations to guide us in choosing our standard bearer.  I have three requests of everyone regardless of your present position on the candidates.  First, PRAY!  I have heard supporters of each candidate say, “This is God’s choice.”  All of them cannot be, so who is right?  Second, VET THE CANDIDATES THOROUGHLY.  I know it is time-consuming and you have to read stuff you do not like as well as that which you do to find the balance and truth.  Check the record, history, and actions in past events of each of the candidates and allow the facts to be facts rather than using isolated incidents as validations for the choice you have already made.  Third, BE INVOLVED.  That means working for, supporting, and voting.  This is America we are fighting for.  None of us should be willing to see a person elected to the Presidency who is not 100% committed to the Constitution.

God help us if we have another president who is not a follower and defender of the Constitution.  God bless you and God bless America.