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Obama’s executive orders

To the editor:

I just read Greg Orear’s “What’s Going On” column in the Dec. 4 issue of The Journal. As usual I found his article to be entertaining if nothing else. His article pointed out the ups and downs of various Presidents of the United States comparing the number of their executive orders throughout their respective terms in office.

I’m not quite as schooled as Greg must be in terms of my journalistic talents (I really didn’t care for my English classes). Truth be told I’m just a farmer, but I did enjoy history classes while I was in high school. Unlike Greg, I haven’t won any awards for my farming abilities, and I only farm in one state. Greg points out various statistics on how many executive orders Presidents like Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt issued throughout history, as well as how many our current president Barack H.Obama issued in his eight years in office. One thing I learned in high school, and in the school of hard knocks, is to trust statistics about as far as you can see them. One should always ask who put the statistics together, and what are they trying to prove. I think Greg is up to his usual liberal leaning shenanigans. I should say I’m not questioning his numbers. I have no doubt Greg spent more time researching his numbers than I did in writing this letter. After all, I have chores to do, and don’t get paid to write letters.

My concern is that Greg seems to gloss over the fact that Lincoln (Republican), and Roosevelt (Democrat), both issued historically large numbers of executive orders during their presidencies, which just happened to be during times of war. The American people seem to be willing to overlook a few shortcuts if it involves matters of national security, and perhaps when we simply don’t have the time for government to slog along to a decision. Nor do they really care if the President declares a “National Sauerkraut Day.”

I didn’t research what Lincoln or Roosevelt issued, I just know they served in times of war. Obama issued his orders during eight years of relative peace. I think THAT is what upsets the people about Obama’s executive orders. There was plenty of time to debate his ideas. Obama just chose to ram his policies through.

Paul Platz

Lafayette

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