Ex-congressman says ideals took detour
Mickey Edwards says ideals took detour

NORMAN — A president who believes he is above the law and a Congress that supports that position are eroding the Constitution and the principles upon which the country was founded, former Oklahoma Rep. Mickey Edwards said this week.

"I worry considerably, deeply, in fact, whether the Constitution matters anymore,” Edwards said.

A Republican and "Reagan conservative,” Edwards represented the Oklahoma City area in Congress for 16 years, from 1977 to 1993. In the 15 years since, Edwards said, he has watched the emergence of "a new type of conservatism,” a type he calls "not conservative at all.”

Instead, he said, the current administration has overstepped its bounds, ignored the checks and balances imposed by the Constitution and "basically, taken the position the president doesn't have to obey the same laws that you and I do.”

While much of his criticism is aimed at President Bush, Edwards said, "that's because he's the president in the box right now, but what's happening now is the culmination of growing trends.”

For 40 years, Edwards said, he has been called a conservative leader, "but ‘conservative' has come to stand for ideas and policies that are the antithesis of what conservatives once stood for.”

Conservatives were once the strongest advocates for American liberties and constitutional guarantees, he said, "but today, they pose the biggest threat.” When a president signs a bill into law, "it is the law. It is binding on me and you. But this president says, ‘I don't agree that I necessarily have to abide by it.'”

President Bush and/or members of the executive staff have ignored congressional mandates 1,100 times, Edwards said, "and that's not just rhetoric.” Edwards said the count comes from a study done by the Government Accounting Office.

The president and his staff have cited "executive privilege” as the reason for not following congressional mandates, Edwards said.

The Constitution provides for "executive privilege” to allow a president to communicate with his staff in private, Edwards said, "but this administration has extended executive privilege to mean communication between any members of the executive branch, whether the president is involved or not.”

Edwards also criticized "patriot” laws that allow the government to wiretap residents without a court order.

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