Thanks for the response. I do agree that Obama (as well as very many other presidents) have overtly violated the constitution, and I’m not going to argue any of your examples.

I guess what I want to do is try to get a discussion going of what the role of government should be in the modern world. My philosophical question was more to expose the inconsistencies of principle that so many people hold; an invitation, if you will, to consider the deep failings that our government has been responsible for since its inception.