I was playing a scary "what if" scenario in my mind tonight about the looming debt crisis thats quickly approaching on Aug 2. So Section 4 of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution states "The validity of the public debt of the United States... shall not be questioned." Some congressmen and political scholars read that to mean that if congress can not agree on a budget then the President has the legal authority to unilaterally raise the debt ceiling in order to protect the country. So what if Obama was a lunatic? I'm not talking about your typical "socialist" leftist president that a lot of people think he is, but like really bat shit crazy. A crazy President could theoretically interpret that to mean "shall not be questioned and shall be protected by any means necessary" right? Well if thats the case then could he round up all members of both houses of congress with federal troops and lock them in a room together until they settle the bills? Would that really be unconstitutional? If Obama believes he doesn't have the legal authority to raise the debt ceiling, does he have the power to lock them in a room together in order to protect the American people? And lets say he is more crazy and decides that section 4 gives him the authority to disband congress because their polarizing, political, stupid squabbling has endangered the country. If congress IS the threat, then does the President have the power to step in and hold elections for a new congress? What if the military backs him up on this crazy ass plan then what? War? Revolution? Crazier things have been done in other countries for someone to seize total power. All it takes is someone to get elected who really wants control and they'll find a way. Also, would the majority of the public, faced with complete economic failure and collapse of the United States economy, support this action? Germans supported The Nazi's when things got out of control. Russia and China went communist when things got out of hand there too.
This is just a crazy train of thought and I don't seriously believe any of this will actually happen. But its interesting to think about.
