In 2008 a certain Presidential candidate by the name of Barack Obama announced his plan for this Republic. Actually it wasn’t a plan, it was more of a declaration.

Seven long years later, Obama’s transformation of this great Republic is in process. Let’s take a look at a few of his “transformations.”

Energy: Today the President issued a series of Executive Orders designed to supposedly give a boost to all the clean energy programs the federal government runs so very well.

Among the orders is a $1 billion boost to a loan guarantee program for distributed energy projects, or small-scale energy generation such as rooftop solar panels. That comes on top of more than $10 billion in loan guarantees the Department of Energy already commits to green energy.

I probably don’t have to remind everyone of how well this Administration has run previous energy programs do I? Solyndra sank like a rock taking with them well over $535 million of our taxpayer dollars while the Department of Energy scrambled madly to cover it up. Ener1 and Bright Automotive were among the many in the electric car industry who have filed for bankruptcy and closed their doors. Yet that hasn’t stopped the President from issuing new orders in a stubborn effort to reboot a failed directive, and give the Environmental Protection Agency the go ahead to force power plants to reduce carbon emissions at the cost of staying in business.

Healthcare:  The massive healthcare boondoggle that was passed so that we ‘could read what’s in it.’  Where do we stand now? Insurance premiums are on the rise, by about 20-40% each year. Healthcare exchanges across the country, more than 17 of them, have failed and are now on the federal exchange, costing us an estimated $1.2 billion. The so-called “Cadillac Tax” is, as Sally Pipes describes it – a Clunker to end all Clunkers. Despite repeated and sometimes testy promises that this new healthcare system is really, honestly, pinky swear “Affordable,” it isn’t.

Not only are insurance companies shifting more costs onto patients, but across the country, insurers are restricting access to care and choice by limiting the number of doctors and hospitals they provide in a coverage network. Insurance plans on government-run Obamacare exchanges on average have 34 percent fewer hospitals and doctors — including specialists — in their provider networks than health policies sold outside those exchanges or offered by employers.

We are seeing progressivism in action. Whatever legislative “successes” that the President would like to claim, when it comes down to the details, failure dogs his footsteps. Phil Gramm, the former Senator from Texas noted in today’s Wall Street Journal:

Having learned from previous progressive failures, President Obama embarked on a strategy of minimizing controversial details that could doom his legislative efforts. But no factor was more decisive than his unshakable determination not to let Congress, the courts, the Constitution or a failed presidency—as America has traditionally defined it—stand in his way.

The devil is in the details. Details that our current President refuses to share with the American people. The details that even Congress doesn’t seem to have near enough backbone to ask for. He has stretched our Constitution, the very foundation of this Republic to its limits by overriding laws he doesn’t agree with or issuing Executive Orders right and left. Unfortunately there are more transformations to consider.

Foreign Policy: Where to begin. The multiple bendy licorice style red lines against Syria that didn’t work at all. How about a certain “Reset” button? Putin’s aggression in the Ukraine and his dance with Iran, including modernizing the S-300 missile system and meeting with Qassem Soleimani, who broke an international travel ban to fly to Russia should more than concern us, it should put us on alert.

How about that Iran Deal? We’ve written about it here, here, here, and on several other occasions. As every detail and side deal comes to light, it becomes more clear that this is a deal that should never happen. Keep in mind, its not a treaty but a series of deals with a country that has and continues to arm terrorists around the world, stands to gain billions should the sanctions be lifted, and has made it clear that they still hate the U.S. with every ounce of their being.

Dodd-Frank, failed immigration policies, judicial nominees filibustered, illegal appointments declared unconstitutional by the courts, tax reform, gun control, ISIS, Israel, and more. Each issue, no matter which way you slice it, has been a failure and has served to make us as a nation weaker than we’ve ever been. Not only that, but Obama is ignoring something very important.

American democracy has historically relied on three basic constraints: a shared commitment to the primacy of the constitutional process over any political agenda, the general necessity to achieve bipartisan support to make significant policy changes, and the natural desire of leaders to be popular by delivering peace and prosperity. Mr. Obama has transformed America by refusing to accept these constraints.

Obama’s desire to transform America is such that he “has sacrificed the good of the country for his political agenda.” Meanwhile, Congress sits on their hands, and the Supreme Court makes decisions that fly in the very face of our Constitution. Rand Simberg, writing for PJ Media, makes a valid point.

The Constitution was meant to be the bedrock of laws, and the laws were to be enacted by the Congress, and signed by the president, not ignored or superseded by the president, or rewritten by the chief justice, to satisfy their own preferences, or those of others, even a majority. We are neither a tyranny of men, or that of a majority. As has often been told, when Benjamin Franklin came out of the Constitutional Convention, a woman asked him, “Mr. Franklin, what have you given us?” His reply: “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.”

This is not the “Change We Need.” In fact, this is not the kind of transformation this country needed. Yet this is what we’ve ended up with for 7 years.

If we continue to let Obama transform this country into his progressive vision then yes; we will see more sand where there used to be bedrock. Our Constitution is in place for a reason. It is and should be the focal point of every decision made on behalf of this Republic. Unfortunately, this President has demonstrated time and again that he could care less about our Constitution, our Republic, and even the citizens he is sworn to serve. Like Mr. Gramm and Mr. Simberg, I fear that the progressive transformative legacy Obama leaves behind will be a foundation of sand rather than bedrock. This country can recover from that and rebuild our Constitutional bedrock. However, it will take time, strength of will and a huge dose of American exceptionalism to do so.