President Barack Obama did something no other president has ever done. On Thursday night, Obama took the Constitution of the United States and may as well have thrown it on the ground and stomped on it for all to see. Certainly, the Founding Fathers would have stood in amazement at what he was doing.

Americans should be outraged over President Barack Obama’s action to unilaterally ignore our laws and the U.S. Constitution by changing immigration law via executive order. His action will stop the deportation of almost five million illegal immigrants, effectively granting them amnesty and sanctuary.

President Obama apparently learned nothing from the beating Democrats took in the mid-term elections, when Americans stood up against his failed policies. Obama’s arrogant attitude towards Congress and American voters is unlike anything we have ever before witnessed from a President of the United States.

Most presidents would be looking for ways to work with the new Republican majorities in Congress to get things done. But not Barack Obama. Instead, a man who has preached, but never practiced, bipartisanship is defying the will of the people by violating his oath of office and contravening the very Constitution he swore to uphold.

>>>Alabamians should thank U.S. Senator Jeff Sessions (and thank God for him) for continuing to clearly define the issues with immigration, ObamaCare, budget deficits, etc. As is his style, Senator Sessions held nothing back when explaining the problems with Obama’s executive order in a recent op-ed for USA TODAY: “President Obama’s executive amnesty will provide an estimated 5 million illegal immigrants with the exact benefits Congress rejected, in violation of federal law. His order will grant them social security numbers, government-issued ID’s, legal status and work permits. Illegal immigrants will now be able to take jobs and benefits directly from struggling Americans in a time of high unemployment and low wages…Many illegal immigrants will also be able to obtain green cards and become permanent residents, allowing them access to almost all federal programs, to receive citizenship and sponsor foreign relatives to join them in the U.S.”

The framers of the Constitution never intended for a president to exercise executive powers on the scale Obama did last week. The founders of the country, in creating our government, had firsthand knowledge of the power of a tyrannical government, through King George III. Not only did they create the doctrine of the separation of powers in the Constitution, they gave Congress, the body of government which most directly represents the people, the most attention in the Constitution.

President Obama has said he is not a king or emperor, but in his heart you know that is what he thinks he is, or dreams of being. He simply wants things his way, much like a spoiled child. He even said as much back in 2011, at a meeting of a Hispanic civil rights and advocacy group where he said, “I swore an oath to uphold the laws on the books…I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the laws on my own. Believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is tempting.”

Just two weeks from being repudiated by voters across the country in record numbers, the president has decided to thumb his nose at the American electorate and do things on his own. Rather than wait for the newly elected Congress to take office in January, this lame duck president, who will never be accountable to the people again, chose to act as king and emperor by delivering his edict from on high.

Certainly there are many Hispanics in this country legally who will see Obama’s actions as nothing more than pandering. I have come to know many in the Hispanic community who are here legally, work hard, contribute to society and are building businesses. They are God-fearing people with conservative Christian values. They want what we want: the opportunity to chase the American dream. They want to build a better life for their family. They have chosen to do it legally and want others to do the same.
 
By Bill Armistead, Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party