Congress cannot to delegate this power. Yet the executive branch, most recently and significantly under
President Obama, has used its power to issue regulations that, in effect, usurp the legislative function. The regulatory burdens now being imposed on the economy suggest a swarm of locusts alighting on a wheat field; and the Congress is asleep at the switch.

What has happened to the doctrine of separation of powers? How has the executive branch become, de facto, a legislative branch? Congress could, if it cared to, reverse this trend and reclaim its proper constitutional power and function as a co-equal branch of our government with the exclusive power to legislate. I believe it is important to do so.

I therefore propose the following:

“Any regulation promulgated by the executive branch or an agency thereof which provides for a civil fine in excess of $1000 for an individual or a small business entity, entails a criminal violation or could result in the taking of private property without due process of law, shall not be valid unless separately enacted by both houses of Congress.

‘Small business entity’ shall be defined as an entity that has no more than 20 equity holders, is not publicly traded and has a fair market valuation of less than $3 million.”

President Obama, or whoever his successor is, would oppose such a measure; after all, modern presidents have grown fond of the power ceded to them by a somnambulant Congress and an overly deferential Supreme Court. However, if the system of limited government, and of checks and balances, is to be reinstated, the Congress must reassert its proper constitutional role – not to diminish the presidency, but to re-establish both the legislative and the executive branches to their rightful and essential positions as co-equal branches of government with distinct functions, responsibility and powers. Of course, most importantly, the American people must ensure this happens by demanding it of their representatives in and candidates to the Congress. I will do my part.