What can President Paul do with a Democratic congress?

[starless]

Besides having a fully stocked case of pens near his desk for veto purposes, what exactly would RP be able to accomplish right away?

 

[ItsTime]

pardon all non-violent drug offenders and "tax evaders"

 

[bbachtung]

When Ron Paul is elected President, he'll be able to point to his mandate for change. The Congress will see the way the wind is blowing and he'll be able to persuade them to make some major changes (think of how quickly the amnesty bill died when people started calling their senators and reps).

 

[MGreen]

Keep vetoing bills until Congress realizes that Paul's win is a sign that the citizens of this country want a smaller federal government. Winning the primaries and then the general election would be a clear-cut mandate.

It's not like the Dems have any backbone anyway. The only danger is if they gain a 2/3 majority, or neo-conservative Republicans decide to stick to their ideals and not party loyalty... then Paul will have a lot of speeches to conduct.

 

[csen]

He can move the troops as Commander in Chief. He can repeal executive orders. And he can give speeches every day of the week and twice on Sunday. That right there is a big win.

If nothing else, he won't make things any worse.

 

[mport1]

Hopefully he will be able to teach them about the Constitution along with the rest of the country.

 

[skilt]

executive orders

1. He will be able to bring our troops home w/o the congress approval

2. He will be able to void all those ridiculous executive orders that GWB signed infringing on our freedom

3. He will be able take us out the UN.

4. He can authorize the goverment to start printing it's own money w/o the approval of congress a la JFK

5. He will be able to get rid of all the departments - education, home land security etc.

6. He will have a busy veto pen.

I'm sure there are many more, but I'm too tired to guess and maybe ignorant, but the way GWB is acting, I have to believe he can effect a lot more change.

Sk

 

[SeanEdwards]

A few things:

He can pardon all the federal prisoners who were convicted of victimless crimes.

He can order all US military personnel worldwide to rebase in the united states.

He can put any number of executive orders and federal administrative laws in the shredder.

He can effectively terminate US involvement in the UN, simply by refusing to appoint any US officials to that body.

He can unilaterally shut down quite a few beauracracies in Washington that are nominally under the executive branch, such as Dept. of Energy, Dept of education, etc. by either refusing to appoint people to these entities, or appointing people that will only work to dismantle them.

He can veto, veto, veto. And then veto some more.

 

[max]

he will need to address the people directly time and time again...Our work will only have just begun.

We would need to bug the shit out of our reps ..

RP would have the neo-cons Repubs , the dems and the media CONSTANTLY on his ass.....Hopefully, this movement will grow into a permanet fighting force. It has to if RP would have any chance of getting stuff done...


How cool would it be to invoke Bush's Executive Orders and use temporary dictatorial power to set things straight before getting rid of Bush's authoritarian shit for good.

 

[Matt Collins]

I'm having spasms just thinking about it!

 

[ButchHowdy]

Wouldn't Ron inherit Bush's E.O. Decider power??

 

[cujothekitten]

I think he can get a lot done. He won't dismantle the IRS or anything that big but he'll accomplish much of his platform.

Repeal the patriot act, military commissions act, and many of the executive orders
End the war
Allow states with medicinal marijuana laws to continue on without being bothered
Decrease the deficit
Stop warrantless wiretapping
Bring trust back to the government
Decrease illegal immigration

Stuff that won’t get done are:
Get rid of the IRS (unless he can get the dems in on Fair Tax which isn't likely)
Get rid of the Fed
End the drug war (even democrats are a ways away from this happening)
Privatize schools (though he'll be a good promoter of it)

 

[jblosser]

How are they going to maintain the unconstitutional war on some drugs when Ron pardons all non-violent drug offenders and refuses to execute those laws further?

The Legislature makes the laws. The Judiciary interprets the laws. The Executive executes the laws. Except when he doesn't.

 

[foofighter20x]

1. He will be able to bring our troops home w/o the congress approval
2. He will be able to void all those ridiculous executive orders that GWB signed infringing on our freedom
3. He will be able take us out the UN.
4. He can authorize the goverment to start printing it's own money w/o the approval of congress a la JFK
5. He will be able to get rid of all the departments - education, home land security etc.
6. He will have a busy veto pen.

I'm sure there are many more, but I'm too tired to guess and maybe ignorant, but the way GWB is acting, I have to believe he can effect a lot more change.

Sk

1. Yes.
2. Yep.
3. Why leave the UN when we can just kick it out of the country (I'm sure the Dutch or the Belgians would love to have them) and maintain our Security Counsel veto and just kill anything stupid?
4. Nope. The E.O.s you are thinking of were rescinded under Reagan, not to mention that the laws that gave that ability to the White House were repealed.
5. I sure hope so.
6. You're damned right!

 

[foofighter20x]

We would need to bug the shit out of our reps...

Why? Don't fight city hall. Be city hall.

Run for office, you guys!

 

[SeanEdwards]

How are they going to maintain the unconstitutional war on some drugs when Ron pardons all non-violent drug offenders and refuses to execute those laws further?

The Legislature makes the laws. The Judiciary interprets the laws. The Executive executes the laws. Except when he doesn't.

He can simply refuse to sign any budget that includes funds for the DEA.

 

[jblosser]

You all keep talking about veto, but there's one very important one: he has said he'll veto any budget with unconstitutional spending. This of course means they'll have to go for an override vote, because there's no way they'll write something he can pass. Getting to an override vote in both houses will require significant compromise, probably enough that the existing budget will expire and the government will shut down in the meantime. And unlike Newt and co, Ron isn't going to lose sleep over that little event.

 

[foofighter20x]

How are they going to maintain the unconstitutional war on some drugs when Ron pardons all non-violent drug offenders and refuses to execute those laws further?

The Legislature makes the laws. The Judiciary interprets the laws. The Executive executes the laws. Except when he doesn't.

Because it's not the federal government's responsibility. It would default back to the states where it properly belongs.

RP will only end the war on drugs at the federal level. What the States do after that is their own business. Therefore, the war is far from over.

 

[RP4ME]

A few things:

He can pardon all the federal prisoners who were convicted of victimless crimes.

He can order all US military personnel worldwide to rebase in the united states.

He can put any number of executive orders and federal administrative laws in the shredder.

He can effectively terminate US involvement in the UN, simply by refusing to appoint any US officials to that body.

He can unilaterally shut down quite a few beauracracies in Washington that are nominally under the executive branch, such as Dept. of Energy, Dept of education, etc. by either refusing to appoint people to these entities, or appointing people that will only work to dismantle them.

He can veto, veto, veto. And then veto some more.

He can write signing statemnets that negate all the ones form thsi admin....

 

[Matt Collins]

Getting to an override vote in both houses will require significant compromise, probably enough that the existing budget will expire and the government will shut down in the meantime. And unlike Newt and co, Ron isn't going to lose sleep over that little event.

That truly made me laugh out loud in an evil kind of way