Saturday, December 12, 2015

Subordinating the Constitution to progressive internationalism: From Libya to climate change.

DAVID BERNSTEIN: Subordinating the Constitution to progressive internationalism: From Libya to climate change.

In his speech at the global climate change conference in Paris, President Obama made it clear that he would like to reach an international agreement that would mitigate the harmful effects of climate change, with each nation binding itself to targets to reduce carbon emissions. What was missing from his speech (and elsewhere) was an acknowledgement that to be binding on the United States any such agreement would need to be in the form of either an executive agreement that would require the approval of both houses of Congress, or a treaty, which would require a positive vote from two-thirds of the Senate. It’s very unlikely that either of these things would be forthcoming from the Republican-controlled Congress.
So the president may agree to a treaty that’s not really a treaty. But what power has he to agree to bind the United States to something without Congress’s assent? Jonathan Tobin of Commentary remarks, “If a climate treaty that is not called a treaty, but which will place the U.S. under these kinds of onerous obligations is put into effect without even the fig leaf of an approval process, then we will have truly taken a step toward a kind of presidential government that is utterly alien to the model of representative democracy that is the foundation of the American constitutional system. . . . Let’s concede that any deal rammed through in this manner won’t have the force of law and can be ignored or rejected by Obama’s successor. But if we allow this precedent to pass unnoticed, we will be merely reinforcing a new reality in which the whims of any president will be sovereign rather than the rule of law.”
Which raises the question of Obama’s motivation. Surely, in part, Obama sincerely believes that climate change is a huge threat to civilization, and therefore wants to do anything in his power, or even anything he can get away with that’s beyond his power, to help stop it.
But climate change (see also the Environmental Protection Agency’s creative, but legally dubious, rules on carbon emissions) is hardly the only area where Obama has preferred to govern unilaterally. Most likely, the president also feels justified in expanding presidential power because he is contemptuous of congressional Republicans, whom he believes are extremists unwilling to cooperate with him even when they know failing to do so will harm the country. But don’t take my word for it; Obama administration Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has explained that Obama sees congressional Republicans as “people that simply won’t—don’t wanna do the right thing for the country.”

Obama has contempt for pretty much everyone who opposes him. And I don’t think he has all that much respect for people who support him, either.
Plus: “The administration is indulging in a form of liberal internationalism that seeks to subordinate adherence to the American Constitution, its separation of powers, and the laws enacted under it to what its advocates consider the much more important values of international cooperation and humanitarianism, which may be undertaken efficiently and efficaciously only by a strong executive. As I explain in more detail in my new book, “Lawless,” the Libyan intervention was exactly the sort of war that liberal internationalists could love. First, the war had the implicit backing of the United Nations, as the U.N. Security Council had unanimously passed a resolution establishing a no-fly zone over Libya. It also had the backing of the Arab League, which also endorsed a no-fly zone. Second, there was no discernible American strategic interest in intervening in Libya, and American intervention was justified primarily as a humanitarian mission that would shore up the U.N.’s authority. Finally, the United States did not act unilaterally in Libya, but acted through NATO and in alliance with Qatar. As NATO, and not the U.S. military, took control of the operation, an anonymous Obama administration official proudly described the president’s strategy as ‘leading from behind.’”
Also, and not coincidentally, it was a colossal debacle for the United States, and for the people it was ostensibly intended to help.

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