Waiving Freedom

Among the objections to Obamacare, one that has not gotten as much attention as it should is the president’s power to waive the law for any company, union, or other enterprise he chooses.

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution provides for “equal protection of the laws” for all Americans. To have a law that can cost an organization millions of dollars a year either apply or not apply, depending on the whim or political interest of the president of the United States, is to make a mockery of the rule of law.
How secure is any freedom when there is this kind of arbitrary power in the hands of one man?
What does your right of freedom of speech mean if saying something that irritates the Obama administration means that you or your business has to pay huge amounts of money and get hit with all sorts of red tape under Obamacare while your competitor is exempted from it because he either kept quiet or praised the Obama administration or donated to its reelection campaign?
Arbitrary Obamacare waivers are bad enough by themselves. They are truly ominous as part of a more general practice of this administration to create arbitrary powers that permit it to ride roughshod over the basic rights of the American people.
The checks and balances of the Constitution have been evaded time and time again by the Obama administration, undermining the fundamental right of the people to determine the laws that govern them through their elected representatives.
You do not have a self-governing people when huge laws are passed too fast for the public to even know what is in them.
You do not have a self-governing people when “czars” are created by executive orders so that individuals wielding vast powers equal to, or greater than, the powers of cabinet members do not have to be vetted and confirmed by the people’s elected representatives in the Senate, as cabinet members must be.

Read more: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/332748/waiving-freedom-thomas-sowell