Presidential Executive Power and the 1933 German Enabling Act
“I have this strange notion, we are a democracy … if you can’t get the votes … you can’t [legislate] by executive order unless you’re a dictator. We’re a democracy. We need consensus.”
Those are the words of Joe Biden. And, no, this isn’t a matter of unearthing a clip from the 1980s or ’90s in an attempt to play a game of gotcha on some antiquated flip-flop. That’s Democratic nominee Biden, less than three weeks before the 2020 presidential election, talking to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos about the dangers of governing like a dictator.
So far, since his inauguration, Joe Biden has signed 39 Executive Orders.
Let me share another quote.
The government will make use of these powers only insofar as they are essential for carrying out vitally necessary measures.The position and rights of the President remain unaltered… The separate existence of the federal states will not be done away with. The rights of the churches will not be diminished and their relationship to the State will not be modified. The number of cases in which an internal necessity exists for having recourse to such a law is in itself a limited one.
– Adolf Hitler to the Reichstag, urging passage of the Enabling Act, March 23, 1933
Germany in the early 1900s was a Republic just like us. The Weimar Republic was a democracy, with elected representatives to the Reichstag (parliament), an elected President, and a constitution.
In the elections of July 31, 1932, the Nazi Party surged and became the largest Party in the Reichstag just like what we have seen happen this year in our Congress with the Democratic Party.
However, no Party had a sufficient majority to govern. The government was fractured between multiple and competing political groups. Just like our Democrats and Republicans.
The chancellor, (Prime Minister who ran day to day affairs of the government) of Germany at that time, Franz Von Papen, was removed by President Paul Von Hindenburg and replaced with Kurt Von Schleiker in an attempt to settle the political divisions in the Reichstag.
Von Papen, furious, made an alliance with Hitler that he would support Hitler for the position of Chancellor (Prime Minister) if Hitler made Von Papen his Vice Chancellor.
Hindenburg, weary of unrest in the Reichstag, at Von Papen’s urging, made Hitler Chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. Von Papen had convinced Hindenburg he could control Hitler, and Hindenburg believed the Nazi Party was on the decline.
Hitler was now Chancellor but he still had no majority in the Reichstag.
On February 27, 1933, there was a fire at the Reichstag building. The Nazis (who are believed to have set the fire) blamed the Communists and claimed it was the beginning of a Marxist takeover of Germany. They appealed to Hindenburg to invoke Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution, which gave government the right to suspend the constitutional rights of German People. Hindenburg invoked Article 48 on February 28, 1933.
Restrictions on personal liberty, on the right of free expression of opinion, including freedom of the press; on the rights of assembly and association; and violations of the privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications; and warrants for house searchers, orders for confiscations as well as restrictions on property, are now permissible beyond the legal limits otherwise prescribed.
– President Paul Von Hindenburg, February 28, 1933
Now folks, does any of this sound familiar to what we have been going through with the Covid restrictions, censoring of the press, and fact checking on social media?
On March 15, 1933, a cabinet meeting was held during which Hitler and Herman Göring, Hitler’s right hand man, discussed how to obstruct what was left of the democratic process to get an Enabling Act passed by the Reichstag.
This law would hand over the constitutional functions of the Reichstag to Hitler, including the power to make laws, control the budget and approve treaties with foreign governments.
The emergency decree signed by President Hindenburg on February 28, made it easy for them to interfere with non-Nazi elected representatives of the people by simply arresting them.
Soon after, Hitler had his cabinet draw up a document that would give him power, for four years, to make law without Parliament’s approval. It was known as The Enabling Act of 1933 – The Law to Remedy the Distress of the People and the Reich. The Reichstag passed it on March 23, 1933.
Here is what it said:
The Reichstag has enacted the following law, which is hereby proclaimed with the assent of the Reichstag, it having been established that the requirements for a constitutional amendment have been fulfilled:
Article 1
In addition to the procedure prescribed by the constitution, laws of the Reich may also be enacted by the government of the Reich.
Article 2
Laws enacted by the government of the Reich may deviate from the constitution as long as they do not affect the institutions of the Reichstag and the Reichsrat. The rights of the President remain undisturbed.
Article 3
Laws enacted by the Reich government shall be issued by the Chancellor (Hitler) and announced in the Reich Gazette. They shall take effect on the day following the announcement, unless they prescribe a different date.
Article 4
Treaties of the Reich with foreign states, which relate to matters of Reich legislation shall for the duration of the validity of these laws not require the consent of the Reichstag.
Hitler was now dictator. The Weimar Constitution had ceased to exist. And it was done, in a matter of minutes, in the name of “necessity”, “the common good”, and “vitally necessary measures” – to remedy the distress of the people.
Again, does any of this sound familiar folks?
Our Constitution defines the limitations of government. It defines the way laws are made, and who is allowed to make them. They are specifically designed to not allow one man to make law, as Hitler did and Biden is suggesting he can.
There is nothing in our Constitution that allows these defined limits of authority and lawmaking to be ignored out of “necessity”, “great need”, “the common good”, expanded “opportunity for American families”, or a need to “move the ball forward”.
In 1933, Germans gave extra-Constitutional power to one man. The world suffered the horror of the Third Reich directly due to that action.
Hitler and his Party Leaders, indisputably, believed they were doing what was best for the German People. They were sincere. They believed they had a moral imperative.
[I] want to work with Congress this year on proven ways to create jobs, like building infrastructure and fixing our broken immigration system. Where Congress isn’t acting, I’ll act on my own to put opportunity within reach for anyone who’s willing to work for it.
Joe Biden quote? Nope. That was Barack Obama on January 18, 2014. Do you want to tell me Biden isn’t reading from Obama’s playbook?
The type of extra-Constitutional power Biden is now claiming on the basis of his moral imperative is more than dangerous. It defies the very foundation of our Constitutional Republic.
On Thursday, April 8th, Joe Biden stated,
“No amendment, no amendment to the Constitution is absolute,” he said.
He added: “So the idea is just bizarre, to suggest that some of the things we’re recommending are contrary to the Constitution.”
Biden must not be further Enabled.
The Man who promised to fundamentally change this nation has started doing so with executive orders.
Change is not always a good thing.
Hitler promised change to the people of Germany. He promised them free health care, the envy of the world; he promised to destroy the rich and raise the poor out of poverty; and he promised to build schools and roads that would change Germany into the greatest nation on earth.
He did so by being given the legislative power to do whatever was necessary to implement what he promised to do for Germany.
Changing the voting laws, defunding police, eliminating the Senate filibuster, stacking the Supreme Court, and open borders are just a few of the major changes the current administration is pushing forward.
Where will it stop?
Have we lost control?
Are we seeing history repeat itself? If so, what can be done?
Callers? What do you think?