Despotism Light

Clyde Warren Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute has an excellent piece in Forbes on what he calls despotism-lite: Barack Obama's use of executive orders to circumvent the legislative process.  What is the difference between a dictator like Saddam Hussein's giving an order that's obeyed without question and Obama's giving an executive order that's obeyed without question?

Warren refers to Obama's imperious style, and he lists a number of major executive orders whose execution usurps Congressional authority.  These include executive orders concerning work-life programs, student loans, and establishing a quadrennial energy review.

Besides these programs' being useless crap, the pattern confirms that the federal government is neither a republic nor a democracy: It is an authoritarian dictatorship that lacks legitimacy.