{"id":2863,"date":"2020-04-08T10:01:44","date_gmt":"2020-04-08T14:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=2863"},"modified":"2020-04-08T16:30:14","modified_gmt":"2020-04-08T20:30:14","slug":"executive-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/04\/08\/executive-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Executive Action"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lincoln<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was the beginning of the Civil War.  Abraham Lincoln, newly inaugurated President of the United States, knew that the Confederate target was Washington, DC.  If the newly minted Confederacy could capture the Union capital, they could end the war before it had even really started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The states remaining in the Union were pitching in.  Ninety-day recruits from all over the nation were headed to defend the Capital.  The main route though, was through Baltimore, Maryland, and Maryland was on the verge of secession.  Mr. Lincoln determined that it was more important to protect Washington\u2019s lifeline to the North, than it was to follow the normal Constitutional procedures of due process and habeas corpus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Maryland legislators who were speaking out for the Confederacy, found themselves locked in Fort McHenry, the home of the Star Spangled Banner.  When they demanded their rights under the Constitution, Roger Taney, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, ruled that only Congress could suspend the writ of habeas corpus.  Since Congress was currently not in session, the President could not hold the prisoners.  But Taney failed to actually order the President to release them (Ex parte Merryman<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Lincoln didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roosevelt<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was the beginning of World War II.  Pearl Harbor had been attacked, and the pride of the US Navy was sitting on the bottom of the harbor.  With the realization of the power of air attacks, Americans saw that the west coast was wide open to the Japanese.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Americans fell prey to racism.  If someone looked \u201cJapanese\u201d then they were seen as a threat to the American way of life.  The fact that many of those Nisei, born and raised in America, were loyal to the United States didn\u2019t stop the widespread fear.  So President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing the military to \u201cremove any and all persons from designated military areas\u201d.  Those areas included most of coastal California, including Los Angeles and San Francisco.  112,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry were taken from their homes and placed in \u201crelocation\u201d camps.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In time of war, American leaders have taken extraordinary actions.  Some have proven to be historically accepted, like Lincoln\u2019s suspension of habeas corpus.  Some are widely condemned, such as Roosevelt\u2019s internment camps.  But in times of crisis, American executives have acted decisively, right or wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeWine<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It was the week when the reality of COVID-19 reached us all, at least here in Ohio.  The Governor, Mike DeWine, was taking step after step, closing down activity in the state to create \u201csocial distancing\u201d and prevent the rapid spread of the virus.  On Monday, March 16th<\/sup>, he ordered the Tuesday primary election cancelled.  His argument:  that opening the polls put Ohioans at risk of spreading the virus to the voters and the poll workers both.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A local court declared he didn\u2019t have the power, that only the state legislature could alter the election.  So first the election was on, then it was off, then it was on again.  Then the Director of Public Health declared the election process itself a health hazard, and the election was off for good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DeWine, and his Public Health Director Amy Acton may or may not have violated the State Constitution of Ohio.  But, like Lincoln and Roosevelt, they did what they thought was right in protecting the health of the citizens of Ohio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Curves<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

By now we all know the theory. We could have allowed the COVID-19 virus to simply \u201cburn through\u201d our population. We\u2019ve seen the numbers: 80% of those who caught the virus would get sick, and then get better. The other 20% would get so sick they would need hospitalization. Some 2% of them would die. But if the 20% all hit the hospital in a short period of time, the \u201csurge,\u201d they would overwhelm our healthcare and many more would die from lack of care. By spreading ourselves out, \u201csocial distancing,\u201d we could reduce the surge and flatten the curve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are some who say we should have just \u201clet it happen\u201d.  They cite \u201cthe flu\u201d and other illnesses, and say we would reach \u201cherd immunity\u201d when almost everyone would be immune to the virus because they\u2019ve already had it.  And those that aren\u2019t immune, well, many of them would already be dead.  Our society would survive, scarred by all of the death and suffering, but not destroyed.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In my early college days, I spent a great deal of time studying nuclear war theory.  One of the early theorists developed a concept called \u201cacceptable losses\u201d.  A country could \u201cwin\u201d a nuclear war, as long as the losses weren\u2019t so great that they unalterably destroyed the country\u2019s ability to function.  In a United States of 150 million, that \u201cacceptable\u201d number was under 40 million people.  It seemed crazy in the 1970\u2019s to read these theorists of the late 1950\u2019s, but their ideas were still \u201cin vogue\u201d among some world leaders.  Luckily for all of us, many more had the common sense to realize \u201cacceptable losses\u201d were in fact, unacceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So is the concept of just letting the virus \u201cburn through\u201d.  The \u201cacceptable losses,\u201d aren\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wisconsin<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

They held an election in Wisconsin last night.  The Governor attempted to stop it, ordering the polls closed.  The Courts claimed he didn\u2019t have the authority, and the state legislature refused to alter the date, or the process.  So, in the midst of the COVID-19 epidemic, while the state of Wisconsin is under a \u201cshelter in place\u201d order, folks lined up at their polling places.  Many poll workers didn\u2019t show up, and cities that had hundreds of polls could only open five.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t a \u201cfair\u201d election.  It was one that required folks to take risks, with their health, and some with their lives, to vote.  The Governor couldn\u2019t find a way to stop it, and the legislature, for their own reasons, chose to let it happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone followed the law, and the state Constitution.  On paper, everyone did the right thing.  That\u2019s the safe way, the \u201cblack and white\u201d rule-follower way.  It put the voters of Wisconsin in an impossible bind:  vote for your candidates, and take your life in your hands.  It required them to become \u201cacceptable losses\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it was unacceptable. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lincoln It was the beginning of the Civil War.  Abraham Lincoln, newly inaugurated President of the United States, knew that the Confederate target was Washington, DC.  If the newly minted Confederacy could capture the Union capital, they could end the war before it had even really started. The states remaining in the Union were pitching in.  Ninety-day recruits … Continue reading “Executive Action”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nExecutive Action : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"American leaders have taken "executive action" throughout history. 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