Our Constitutional Republic is in Jeopardy

First, in the interest of full disclosure, I am a big BP stockholder. Other winners in my portfolio include Lucent Technologies, GE and Westinghouse Air Brakes. Ok, now that you have a deeper understanding of my long term commitment to the crucially important profitability of this Blog, today's Post examines the Constitution's Guarantee to Due Process Protections every person (including a corporate individual) is afforded prior to the federal government depriving that individual of his/her freedom or private property.

President Obama, a former Con Law professor, is well schooled on this fundamental principle of the Rule of Law. Indeed, he designated the Christmas Day Undie bomber to be merely an alleged criminal, because no court trial has adjudicated his guilt of having set his own pants on fire. Nonetheless, last night the President told the nation that in meeting with BP executives today, he would be directing them to set aside up to $20,000,000,000.00 for payment of Gulf of Mexico oil leak claims.

Wow; no charges, no trial, no jury verdict, just the ex parte imposition of a potential corporate death sentence on nothing more than the say so of the Big Guy. The President has cited no federal statute that empowers him to reach into the BP pocket and seize its private funds. The reason for this absence of Speech citation is obvious - there is no lawful authority for Presidential confiscation millions of BP stockholders (mostly widows and orphans) retirement investments.

The road to dictatorship always starts with small extra-legal acts that go almost unnoticed and unprotested by the nation's lawmakers. In this presidency, our slide toward abject servitude began with one phone call. In February 2009, Mr. Obama fired the CEO of General Motors Corporation. Author Ben Stein wrote, that upon calling the White House to ascertain the specific federal law the President utilized in depriving this individual of his livelihood, he was told by the Press Office: "None Needed." Gentlemen, ladies and Georgette, that act of Chicago style thuggery is the very antithesis of the Rule of Law. So, be afraid, be very afraid.