Cameron Smith: America’s shift from rule of law to rule by executive branch

  The "rule of law" has served as the backbone of democracy from America’s founding. First, all Americans agree to be held accountable under the law. To secure that consent, the process to enact, administer and enforce those laws must be transparent, democratically accessible, and impartial. While that process has rarely been perfect, it has consistently created stable, predictable laws that serve as the guiderails for civil society.

  The last several decades have marked a continued erosion of the rule of law in America’s federal government. The gradual change has resulted from Congress ceding its constitutional powers, leaving essentially a type of ad hoc rule by the President and the executive branch agencies.

Cameron Smith: Rejecting the common refrain of big government

  Over the last several months, liberal politicians, members of the media, hospitals and even the head of Alabama’s retirement system have renewed their calls for Alabama to expand Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

  The left and right have quibbled over economic projections, job creation, state costs, and political motivations. Every special interest, crony business or power hungry politician with a shot at either controlling or benefitting from a short-term federal cash infusion acts as if rejecting federal money is irresponsible and harmful to the most vulnerable in our state.

Cameron Smith: Measuring the Affordable Care Act’s problem-solving progress

  Health care reform has dominated the political landscape since the early months of 2009 when President Obama and Democrats in the House and Senate began to draft what would ultimately become the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in March of 2010.

  The President has conceded that the implementation of the PPACA has not gone as planned. Delays, significant technology issues, the Supreme Court’s modification of the law’s Medicaid provisions, and a host of other challenges have plagued the PPACA. Most recently, the President and supporters of the PPACA have come under intense scrutiny regarding whether or not the supporters of the law misled the American people about their ability to keep their preferred health insurance as the law takes effect.

Cameron Smith: The Hill where federal government died

  By now, most Americans paying attention recognize that the federal government began shutting down on Monday based on the inability of congress to appropriate funds.

  The hill that both Republicans and Democrats seem to be willing to die on is the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), otherwise known as "Obamacare." How many Americans noticed that essentially one vote on one piece of legislation served as the power switch for the entire federal government? Why does the love or hatred of one policy, albeit a significant one, mean that government shuts down?

Cameron Smith: The crisis of government cronyism

  For the last several election cycles, Democrats have successfully branded Republicans as the protectors of corporate greed, companies that are too big to fail and the much maligned “one percent.”

  This branding strategy succeeds because it resonates on some level with most Americans. The policy and political arguments of an executive whose annual compensation is more than many of us will make in our entire lives fails to draw sympathy regardless of political leanings.

Cameron Smith: Obamacare options for Alabama

  As Alabama and the nation continue to process the Supreme Court's June 28th opinion on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), most of the talk has revolved around the preservation of the individual mandate, albeit in the Court's reformulation as a tax.

  But the Court's holding leaves Alabamians with two important decisions to make: Should the state expand Medicaid under the PPACA and should the state set up its own PPACA-compliant health insurance exchange?

  In the PPACA opinion, seven Justices placed a significant restriction on the coercive power of federal spending by striking down the ability of the federal government to condition all Medicaid funding on a state's willingness to expand Medicaid coverage under the PPACA. As a result, Alabamians are asked to balance expanding Medicaid to include an additional 351,000 to 456,000 citizens against the reality of scarcely being able to fund existing Medicaid obligations.

Ian M. MacIsaac: Is President Obama's leadership dynamic, or just unsure?

  For many Americans who were energized and inspired politically by Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, his record as president has been distinctly dispiriting and disillusioning.

  Some campaign promises were kept--like the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act.

  Others--such as a cap-and-trade bill, and the immigration reform bill even John McCain wanted--fizzled in the face of what was perceived by the media as weak leadership from the White House in the face of predictable opposition from Republicans in Congress, particularly in the Senate.

  And even the promises that were kept, such as the health care bill, came through in such a watered-down form that they scarcely resembled the bills proposed by then-Senator Obama in 2008.