Issues & Insights
President Joe Biden. Photo: Gage Skidmore, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en).

Joe Biden’s Rule By Decree: How Far Can He Go?

I&I Editorial

President Joe Biden’s candidacy was built on the idea that he was an old, experienced, centrist in Washington, someone who could bring two sides together. So far, with his penchant for issuing “executive orders” to fundamentally change America, he’s governing precisely as a socialist dictator would. Is that what Americans voted for?

Never mind talk of Biden’s clear symptoms of age-related dementia as he stumbles, fumbles and mumbles his way through his presidential duties. Even at 78, Biden is still our nation’s chief executive and commander in chief. He has power, and he plans to use it.

He’s already issued more than 50 executive orders, including 22 reversals of previous Trump policies. Even his aides have gotten in on the imperious act: Last weekend one of Biden’s public relations people physically interfered with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s efforts to film the conditions of migrants at the U.S. border. Is this the Soviet Union?

Biden’s ready to do more — a lot more. PJ Media noticed this gem from White House spokesperson Jen Psaki’s press conference last week, in reference to gun control.

“We are considering a range of levers, including working through legislation, including executive action … he as vice president was leading the effort on determining executive actions that could be taken on gun safety measures, it’s something that he has worked on, he’s passionate about, he feels personally connected to. But there’s an ongoing process and I think we feel we have to work on multiple channels at the same time.”

But it won’t just be gun control. No, he has plans for lots of “executive actions” to bring about a major reshaping of American civic, political and cultural life, whether Americans like it or not.

The website Axios puts it this way in a headline: “Biden’s New Deal: Re-engineering America, quickly.”

The idea is to move so fast the Republican opposition and the American people won’t know what hit them. With a 50-50 split in the Senate and a majority in the House, Biden and his advisers think he might be able to move his agenda through Congress with only mild resistance.

But it’s in the “executive actions” where things get touchy. Biden’s already banned fracking on public lands and halted construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, as our oil imports from (of all places) Russia surge. After promising not to, he now backs getting rid of the filibuster, a move that would turn the Senate over to one-party rule by the Democrats.

His future plans would be no better, marking a revolution in America’s economy, by imposing sweeping new regulations, rules and possibly taxes as part of his massive $3 trillion “Build Back Better” infrastructure and green energy program.

“Biden huddled privately late Monday with Senate Democrats as Congress has already begun laying the groundwork with legislation for developing roads, hospitals and green energy systems as part of Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ campaign promise,” AP reported this week. It also includes education and paid family leave. A real grab bag.

The goal: Move fast, issue lots of executive orders, and hit any GOP Congress member who dares to oppose his agenda as weak and standing in the way of an economic recovery that, in fact, had already been well under way since the middle of last year.

What’s the hurry?

Of note is the fact that Biden recently conferred in the White House with a group of left-leaning historians, apparently in an attempt to find out just how far he can stretch his arbitrary presidential power.

Axios reports that, not surprisingly, “The historians’ views were very much in sync with his own: It is time to go even bigger and faster than anyone expected. If that means chucking the filibuster and bipartisanship, so be it.”

In addition, “Presidential historian Michael Beschloss told Axios FDR and LBJ may turn out to be the past century’s closest analogues for the Biden era, ‘in terms of transforming the country in important ways in a short time.’ “

Oh oh. That means a Biden FDR-style “New Deal” coupled with an LBJ-style “Great Society.”

Two points need to be made here.

For one, FDR created a vast new federal bureaucracy to run all our lives, tried to pack the U.S. Supreme Court with supporters, and appealed to racism in interning Asian-Americans during World War II as a “threat.”

(By the way, FDR’s attempts to use government to “stimulate” the economy failed: A widely cited UCLA study found that FDR’s misguided Keynesian policies delayed the economy’s return to normal by seven years.)

As for LBJ, he got the U.S. more deeply enmeshed in the Vietnam War, and it took a Republican president to finally pull out. LBJ also created the “Great Society” program as part of his “War on Poverty.” Yet today, some $30 trillion later, the official poverty rate is about what it was when the “war” began.

Anyone who is even somewhat familiar with Biden’s lengthy career in the Senate knows he has a huge ego, regularly challenging voters to pushup contests, inappropriately touching women in public, and telling others who challenge his views that he has a higher IQ than they do. He even sponsors something called the “Biden Courage Awards.”

Right now, his mental acuity fading fast, Biden clearly wants a policy blitz to seal his legacy as a president who got a lot done in a short time, even if it means creating sharp racial and political divisions in the country, and declaring war on America’s republic, which has lasted for more than 200 years. That will be his real legacy.

— Written by the I&I Editorial Board

We Could Use Your Help

Issues & Insights was founded by seasoned journalists of the IBD Editorials page. Our mission is to provide timely, fact-based reporting and deeply informed analysis on the news of the day -- without fear or favor.

We’re doing this on a voluntary basis because we believe in a free press, and because we aren't afraid to tell the truth, even if it means being targeted by the left. Revenue from ads on the site help, but your support will truly make a difference in keeping our mission going. If you like what you see, feel free to visit our Donations Page by clicking here. And be sure to tell your friends!

You can also subscribe to I&I: It's free!

Just enter your email address below to get started.

Share

I & I Editorial Board

The Issues and Insights Editorial Board has decades of experience in journalism, commentary and public policy.

5 comments

  • …. Thirty-Odd Trillion Dollars later, the …. poverty rate is about what it was when the “war” began ….

    Except among such of the fascist Left’s beneficiaries as have since gained possession of the Thirty-Odd Trillion! Included among them the legacy-seeking cadaver, himself. Who has long long long lived way above the government dole for such a middling management functionary.

  • FDR tried to take America as far left as Biden* has been doing, but he was stopped by congress and the courts. Congressional opposition to his leftist dictates came from his own party as much as from republicans, but we’ll have scant opposition from democrats this time. They’re the ones helping to drag America into outright socialism.

  • President ChinaJoeBama has no agenda and makes no decisions. He is a figurehead for BHO’s Third Term. The ‘administration’ is salted with Obama Loyalists. Susan Rice is Joe’s Senior Adviser. She is a direct conduit from Obama to JB’s Keepers (handlers).
    JB says and does as he is told.

  • Biden*, as Mark Levin suggests, is only interested in his legacy as the most progressive (Marxist) president. LBJ destroyed the Black family. Biden* will destroy the White family, the Latino family, any family, in this evil quest. Biden*’s efforts to transform America into a third world Hell hole have to be stopped. But, by Whom? Republicans are as silent as an old Buster Keaton movie. Shame on both their houses.

  • Most of us know this…..why not offer some constructive action we can take; because apparently writing to our representatives and senators is useless……

About Issues & Insights

Issues & Insights is run by the seasoned journalists behind the legendary IBD Editorials page. Our goal is to bring our decades of combined journalism experience to help readers understand the top issues of the day. We’re doing this on a voluntary basis, because we believe the nation needs the kind of cogent, rational, data-driven, fact-based commentary that we can provide. 

We Could Use Your Help

Help us fight for honesty in journalism and against the tyranny of the left. Issues & Insights is published by the editors of what once was Investor's Business Daily's award-winning opinion pages. If you like what you see, leave a donation by clicking on donate button above. You can also set up regular donations if you like. Ad revenue helps, but your support will truly make a difference. (Please note that we are not set up as a charitable organization, so donations aren't tax deductible.) Thank you!
Share
%d bloggers like this: