Better in their words…

I’ll never forget the first time I had to defend my statement that we here in the United States of America, the greatest country the world has ever seen, the land of the free and home of the brave, was falling into a tyrannical state. It was a couple of years ago, shortly after I had won my historic quarantine camp lawsuit against the Governor of New York, and I was doing an interview on Epoch TV’s American Thought Leaders with the fabulous Jan Jekielek. Jan asked me if I thought it was a bit “much” to say we are experiencing tyranny. My response was simple and pointed… the very definition of tyranny is when someone in authority takes a power to which they are not entitled. This is precisely what we are seeing here (not just in New York, but in our country). You can access that interview here.

Of course tyrannical societies are often times run by a dictator (or dictators), and here now in the USA, we have quite a few of those. From the first fluttering of COVID19 back in the spring of 2020, I was waving my hands and jumping up and down trying to awaken my friends, family, colleagues, whomever would listen, that the government could not do what it was doing to us, We The People. Trust me, no matter how many times I said it, pretty much nobody was listening to me back then. I attribute that to a few reasons, the first being because they were scared out of their minds, thanks to all of the COVID19 fear porn that was blasting all over mainstream media in print, online, on TV, etc. The government and the media were hitting us from all sides with a very clear message that basically went like this, “Do exactly what we tell you, and you will remain safe. Don’t, and you will die.” Fear is a very powerful tool. It worked. Another reason people weren’t listening to me when COVID broke out was lack of a spotlight. I didn’t have a platform. I wasn’t writing a Substack, or giving speeches across New York State, or presenting at conferences across the country, or winning lawsuits against a corrupt state government back then as I am now. Quite contrarily, up until four years ago, I was minding my own business, living my quiet life outside the lime light, just doing my thing.

The message I was trying to convey in spring of 2020 is the same message I emote today – “The government cannot do this! They have utterly overstepped their power. We The People are in control, not these political elites.” And perhaps of most import, “The Constitution is not suspended during times of emergency!”

It is a true shame that civics is no longer taught in schools today, for it it was, then more people would have known that their rights were/are being violated! In fact, I think many Americans in this day and age, especially the younger ones, don’t even know what civics means. The American Heritage Dictionary defines “civics” as, “the branch of political science that deals with civic affairs and the rights and duties of citizens.” It’s basically the study of how government works in relation to our society. I truly believe that if Americans understood the basic premise that We The People are in charge, not the government, our lives would be a lot more “free” than we are today.

Dictators are people in power that disregard the law of the land, and do what they want, how they want, when they want. We now have many dictators in our country, the primary one being Biden. Whether directly or through his agencies, Biden constantly disregards the law of the land (ie the Constitution) and does whatever he wants. Remember folks, one of my most stated lines about our Constitution… the Constitution was written to keep the government in check, not to keep the people in check! The way our government is structured with a balance of power between three co-equal branches, the Executive Branch (president, governors, mayors, etc) are charged with enforcing laws, not making laws. And yet, Biden and a whole host of governors in blue states, have annointed themselves kings and queens, and they are using their offices, or their agencies that serve under and answer to them, to govern over the people in an unconstitutional and yes, dictatorial, way.

As an attorney in the world of Constitutional Law, it is quite obvious to me that we have become a “Regulation Nation,” where we are governed by an “Administrative State”. What do I mean by that?  I mean that we are being governed by regulations issued by administrative agencies at the behest of power-hungry executives, instead of being governed by laws duly passed by our elected officials in our legislatures.  Why does that matter?  Because agencies are run by unelected, government bureaucrats who are beholden to nobody but the person who appointed them.  They do not serve We the People. They don’t care what the voters think or want or don’t want.  They don’t have to care.  They don’t need your vote to stay in power.  They only need to appease the politician who appointed them.  If they just follow the yellow brick road, they will land on the other side of the rainbow.

The Administrative State is toxic. We have three branches of government, not four. Agencies aren’t supposed to act unless authorized by law (ie Congress or a state legislature). But agencies, under the direction of self-appointed dictators, are running wild with power, and I (and other attorneys) must keep suing them to push them back into place. This is not a sustainable business model for a nation that wants to remain free.

Let me give you a few real-life scenarios so it’s easier to digest.

On the Federal level

Indeed, there have been some recent United States Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decisions that positively tackled the “Regulation Nation” problem.  However, disctators don’t take “no” for an answer too easily.

• Biden’s student loan “forgiveness” plan (by the way, nothing was being forgiven – the cost was simply being transferred on to you)… Biden declared he was going to forgive college students’ federal loans for tens of millions of students to the tune of BILLIONS of dollars. Last year, SCOTUS struck it down as unconstitutional, as they should have. But true to form of a serial dictator, Biden ignored the Supreme Court and went ahead with the program anyway after he tweaked a couple things. Also true to dictatorship form, he’s darn proud of what he did! Here’s a clip of him at a recent college commencement bragging about it:

  

  Here’s a recent post by his agency, the Department of Education, on just how much of your tax dollars he is using to buy votes, I mean wipe out students’ loans…

  

   

• Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an agency in the Executive Branch under the President, made a regulation limiting power plant emissions. The regulation conflicted with the federal Clean Air Act. The EPA did not have the power to make that “regulation”. In 2022, SCOTUS struck down the regulation as unconstitutional.
• Biden’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), an agency in the Executive Branch under the President, made a regulation requiring all employers in the US with 100 or more employees to require those employees to get the C19 shot or mask/test in order to go to work. OSHA did not have the power to make that “regulation.” In 2022, SCOTUS struck down the regulation as unconstitutional.
• Biden’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an agency in the Executive Branch under the President, made a regulation imposing a nationwide eviction moratorium whereby prohibiting landlords from evicting tenants due to non-payment of rent. The CDC did not have the power to make the “regulation”. In the summer of 2021, SCOTUS struck down the regulation as unconstitutional, but how many hundreds of thousands of landlords had lost their properties in the meanwhile as a result of the illegal dictate?

On the State Level

This is a perfect illustration, and it’s my case, so I’ll go with it as a New York state example… my “quarantine camp” lawsuit against Governor Hochul.  What happened there is that the NYS Department of Health (DOH) issued an “Isolation & Quarantine Procedures” regulation.  The head of the DOH was Commissioner Dr. Mary Bassett.  She was, of course, appointed by the Governor.  Everyone that works for the DOH is unelected. They do not need to listen to voter wants/needs. Quite presumably, if the Commissioner or any of the government workers below her don’t do the bidding of their “boss,” then their days at the DOH would surely be limited.

So, what happened in my quarantine case is that the DOH created a wholly unconstitutional regulation that allowed them to pick and choose which New Yorkers they could lock up or lock down.  That could have meant forced isolation in your home, or they could have removed you from your home and put you into a quarantine facility of their choosing!  For however long they wanted. With no procedure for you to get out.  There was no age restriction, so they could have taken you, your child, your grandchild… Literally tearing families apart.  And they didn’t even have to prove that you were sick, or that you had been exposed to a communicable disease! Guilty until proven innocent.

The DOH gave themselves this phenomenal power. If that is unclear what I mean there, I will explain. The DOH wanted this unbridled power to be able to control 19 million New Yorkers with the stroke of a pen, the legislature wouldn’t give it to them, so they just made it up and issued it themselves in the form of a regulation (10 NYCRR 2.13).  No legislative consent given.  No voter input had.  Zilch.  A clear breach of separation of powers.  A clear affront on our Constitution.  A perfect example of the “Regulation Nation.” Remember my note above about agencies – they cannot unilaterally act. They must instead by empowered to do so by a law (made by the legislature).

So, I sued Governor Hochul and her DOH on behalf of a group of NYS legislators (Senator George Borrello, Assemblyman Chris Tague, Assemblyman [now Congressman] Mike Lawler) together with a citizens’ group, Uniting NYS.  Our argument was clear: the DOH does not possess the power to make a law, and this was surely a law, despite the fact that they called it a “regulation.”  It conflicted with the Constitution. It conflicted with NYS law.  As Assemblyman Tague said at our press conference last year when we first filed the case:

“This policy’s aim to forcibly isolate law-abiding citizens is reminiscent of actions taken by some of the ugliest tyrannical regimes history has ever known. It has no place standing as law here in New York, let alone anywhere in the United States. Policies as dangerous as this should be debated and scrutinized in a public setting by elected representatives, not quietly slinked through regulatory approvals.”

The important thing to recognize here is, although the DOH called it a “regulation,” it was actually a law, and laws are supposed to be made by the legislature, not the governor and her agencies. The court struck it down as unconstitutional, breach of Separation of Powers, but the governor appealed. If you want more information about our case and its current status, you can find details HERE. You can also access interviews and articles I’ve written about the lawsuit and its current status on my website at www.CoxLawyers.com

Ending the Dictatorships

These cases that I have referenced herein, are instances where the Constitution (and thus We The People) won; which is wonderful of course. However, as noted above, this model is not sustainable. Meaning, we can’t just keep bringing lawsuits to put the overreaching, dictators back in their lanes. It’s akin to playing whack-a-mole… you never really catch up. Why not? Because lawsuits take time. A lot of time. (My quarantine lawsuit is on its second appeal and I’m more than two years into it now). Lawsuits take money. They take resources. They require lawyers willing to go against the grain to take up the fight. The lawsuits aren’t easy because all of the above-noted ingredients are rare commodities, especially funding. I have been handling the quarantine camp lawsuit pro bono, which means I am doing it for free. But that is not sustainable either! (If you’d like to support our legal fund, please do so HERE). We must stop the government’s perilous “Catch me if you can” attitude. We must go on the offensive, by electing those who honor the Constitution and who will establish once again a government of the people, by the people, for the people.

November 5th is ELECTION DAY. Get rid of dictator Biden, and all the other horrendous politicians who are trampling on our Constitution. Check your legislators’ voting records before you cast your vote. It’s the only way to know if they are fighting for you, or against you!

Don’t Forget!

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