RULING BY DECREE? — PART 1

Is the Coronavirus (COVID-19) a mouse? Well, it has been something of a terror. When it first came out of China, because the Chinese lied to us, we did not know whether or not COVID-19 is dangerous. Since then the news media has overemphasized its dangers, and we expect some government agencies have padded their statistics to make COVID-19 look more dangerous than it actually is. Nevertheless, it has become fairly obvious that the virus is just a bit more dangerous than the flu. If you are not older than 45 and otherwise healthy, your risk from COVID-19 is small. Closing the schools, for example, keeps our children from being exposed to Liberal Democrat indoctrination, but it doesn’t provide them protection they need from the virus.

Unfortunately, we behave like herd animals. When we see the people around us afraid, we become afraid. Then we are at risk from tyranny. We can too easily be persuaded to give seemingly calm, authoritative, persuasive, knowledgeable, and power-hungry leaders more temptation than they can handle.

How is this working in Virginia? Our governor (Governor Ralph Northam) is ruling by decree, and we are irresponsible to let him do that, and the Constitution of Virginia says as much.

Most states have a constitution similar to the Constitution of Virginia. Still, if you live in another state, please look up your own. See if your constitution permits your governor to rule by decree. The Constitution of Virginia does not permits our governor such power. Your constitution probably doesn’t either.

Here are two basic arguments for this view.

• A constitution is a charter that authorizes the powers our government uses to govern us. If a power is not authorized in a constitution, then the government does not have that power.
• The Virginia Bill of Rights specifically denies governors the powers they have seized.

The Constitution of Virginia doesn’t give our governor the power to make laws. It gives this power to the General Assembly. Consider how Article IV (Legislature) begins in Section 1 (Legislative power).

The legislative power of the Commonwealth shall be vested in a General Assembly, which shall consist of a Senate and House of Delegates.

When it begins with this statement, Article IV, Section 11 (Enactment of laws) clearly nails down what that means.

No law shall be enacted except by bill. A bill may originate in either house, may be approved or rejected by the other, or may be amended by either, with the concurrence of the other.

What does the governor have to do with the passage of laws? As Article V (Executive) explains in Section 6 (Presentation of bills; powers of Governor; vetoes and amendments), he signs bills into law, vetoes bills he does not want to sign, or proposes amendments.

Article I in Constitution of Virginia contains Virginia’s Bill of Rights.

• Section 5. Separation of legislative, executive, and judicial departments; periodical elections prohibits on branch of government from taking upon itself the powers of another branch. That is, the governor has no business enacting laws, that is, ruling by decree.
• Section 7. Laws should not be suspended prohibits “suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by any authority, without consent of the representatives of the people”. In other words, the governor is not suppose to replace existing laws with his own edicts.
• Section 11. Due process of law; obligation of contracts; taking or damaging of private property; prohibited discrimination; jury trial in civil cases requires due process of law. When our state deprives a businessman of the use of his property, there must be an appropriate legal process and reasonable compensation.
• Section 12. Freedom of speech and of the press; right peaceably to assemble, and to petition prohibits the government from arbitrarily denying us the right to peaceably assemble into large groups, especially if we wish to rally for a political cause.
• Section 16. Free exercise of religion; no establishment of religion specifically protects the free exercise of religion. When our governor arbitrarily allows us to go to the grocery store, but prohibits us from going to church, he is clearly violating our right to freely exercise our religious beliefs.
• Section 17. Construction of the Bill of Rights says: “The rights enumerated in this Bill of Rights shall not be construed to limit other rights of the people not therein expressed.” When any government arbitrarily seizes powers, that government infringes upon our unenumerated rights.

So what is in Part 2 of this short little series? Why are some governors and local politicians (like Prince William County’s Chair At-Large Ann Wheeler) so determined to keep their states from getting back to work (see Northern Virginia Localities Urge Governor to Set Regional Targets for Reopening)? Well, Liberal Democrats don’t like letting a good crisis go to waste, not even a crisis we have created by exaggerating the dangers posed by a disease out of proportion to the dangers it actually poses. To illustrate how that works, we will consider what is in the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions Act, or HEROES Act (cbsnews.com).

More Fun Reading

• Liz Peek: Pelosi’s $3 trillion coronavirus bill lets her play left-wing Santa Claus with your tax dollars and Newt Gingrich: Pelosi’s crazy $3T coronavirus spending bill may have secret purpose – Don’t underestimate her (foxnews.com)
• Nancy Pelosi Unveils $3 Trillion, 1,815-Page Leftist Coronavirus Bill (breitbart.com)
• House narrowly passes $3 trillion coronavirus aid bill (rollcall.com)
• House Democrats unveil new $3 trillion coronavirus relief bill (cnbc.com)