Another Executive Order, another dent in American sovereignty

At a White House strategy meeting last fall, President Obama interrupted the meeting to declare that the administration needed to use the power of the executive order more aggressively to govern in the face of "Congressional obstructionism." Well, he sure is putting his money where his mouth is when he says he'll find ways to go around Congress to get things his way.

He recently had his team draft a new executive order called “Promoting International Regulatory Cooperation”, ostensibly to allow US companies that do business overseas to grow their operations with fewer obstacles. In essence, the order, which was issued on May 1, establishes a policy panel to increase international regulatory cooperation. In other words, the policy panel is charged with the task of reviewing any US trade regulations it doesn't like and changing them to be more in line with the laws in foreign countries.

International regulatory actions - such as trade agreements - usually go through negotiation with trading partners at the diplomatic level, which is then presented in a treaty to Congress for review and passage.

The “Promoting International Regulatory Cooperation” executive order completely rejects the normal process we customarily engage in for passing international regulations - and does so without thorough review as to what its implications may be for our country. Instead foreign laws are given more weight. And once again Congress is left out of a decision that affects our country while the public gets no chance to voice its support or opposition.

While Obama is certainly not the only US president to use the Executive Order, when such a directive allows American law to take a backseat to foreign laws, it becomes a matter of sovereignty. Regardless of which president allows such things, it's not good for America.

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