Tonight on The Glenn Beck Program, Glenn and David Barton hosted a "Foundations in Freedom," tackling the history of abuse of power and executive orders. How has Obama's use of the executive order compared to past Presidents? And how does his use of executive order compare to past presidents? You might be surprised.
Glenn explained that when the president makes a pitch to the people of America and is unable to sway the polls, he has two options.
1. Accept that the American people aren't interested and move on, or
2. Jam it through with an executive order.
"Expect a whole lot more of these executive orders in the coming four years," Glenn told his audience. "And expect their reach to be profound. And anytime you complain about it you're going to hear somebody say, 'George W. Bush issued 291 executive orders'."
And they're right.
The truth is, more executive order were issued in the first term of George W. Bush's presidency than in Barack Obama's.
The founders allowed executive orders, but most don't even really know what their original purpose was meant to be. If you understand the history and origin of the executive order, they become much less 'dictator-like'.
Are they currently being used the way that was intended? Have they by past presidents? Once you know that during George Washington's time as president he only issue eight executive orders, you should have a pretty good guess.
Watch the clips from tonight's show for more: