------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CARTER'S TRUE LEGACY SHOCKING
By Mike Blair Exclusive to The SPOTLIGHT
Washington, DC -- While many frown when they think of the high interest rates, U.S. hostages held abroad and foreign policy giveaways associated with the Carter administration, former President Jimmy Carter's true legacy may be even more shocking than imagined.
Carter seemingly ran an end run around a law passed in the wake of Watergate and signed before Carter took office, which limited White House powers, when he formed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
FEMA was based on Richard Nixon's Executive Order (EO) 11490.
The legislation contained nearly 200000 words on 32 pages. It pertained to every executive order ever issued unless specifically revoked.
When Carter took office, EO 11490 was incorporated into a new order allowing a president to assume dictatorial powers during any self-proclaimed "emergency" situation; these powers will remain with a president until specifically revoked by Congress.
Some senators thought they had successfully squashed the chief executive's "national emergency" powers more than 10 years ago, after a bipartisan congressional committee pushed the National Emergencies Act into law.
Until September 14, 1976, the nation's chief executive officer was empowered by more than 470 special statues to "seize property, organize and control the means of production, seize commodities, institute martial law, seize and control all transportation and communication, regulate the operation of private enterprise, restrict travel and, in a host of other ways, control the lives of Americans," then-Sen. Frank Church (D-Idaho) said in the _Congressional Record_.
The National Emergencies Act, which took effect in 1978, was supposed to prevent the nation from turning into a potential dictatorship. Presidents had used their "emergency" powers at least four times in the previous 45 years.
The president held this little-known sway over citizens through executive orders, which he could write into law in a moment's notice. No group, neither elected officials, business leaders, nor private citizens, had the power to void these laws.
Franklin Roosevelt invoked a national emergency in 1933 to deal with the banking crisis, and Harry Truman responded to the Korean War with an emergency act in 1950.
Richard Nixon declared a pair of crises. In March 1970 he declared a national emergency to deal with the post office strike. The Nixon White House was at it again 16 months later when it implemented currency restriction in August of 1971 in order to control foreign trade.
Then, in 1976, after two years of public hearings and committee meetings, a bipartisan special congressional Committee on Emergency Powers pushed legislation to wrestle power from the White House.
The National Emergencies Act became law on September 14, 1978,. Senators used the second anniversary of their law to pat each other on the back -- through the _Congressional Record_ -- and to attempt to establish Congress's role in national security.
"The Congress must never again trade away its responsibilities in the name of national emergency," Church said. "Let that be one of the lessons learned from the investigation completed, the passage of the National Emergencies Act and the termination today of emergency powers."
Church's warning fell on deaf ears. Less than one year later, President Jimmy Carter ordered into being an entire apparatus -- unprecedented in American history -- designed to seize and exercise all political, economic and military power in the United States.
Carter, Ronald Reagan, George Bush or any future president could establish himself as total dictator.
Carter did this with an executive order -- EO 12148.
An executive order has never been defined by Congress. The validity of such directives has been questioned many times, but there has never been a decision made by the courts or Congress on how far-reaching executive orders may be.
Through existing executive orders it is possible for one person to ignore the Constitution, Congress and the will of the American people. A complete dictatorship can be imposed under the veil of law.
A declaration by the president of the existence of a "national emergency" has always stopped short of martial law, although the president has that prerogative. Undoubtedly it would be exercised in the event of an attack on the United States.
An attempt was made to incorporate all the "national emergency" powers into one law under Nixon. However, in the wake of the Watergate scandal, he was unable to pull off the presidential coup.
Carter, a Trilateralist, did.
Reproduced with permission from a special supplement to _The Spotlight_, May 25, 1992. This text may be freely reproduced provided acknowledgement to The Spotlight appears, including this address:
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