I had a Facebook “friend” who opined that white folks were against Obama because they were “scared of a black man with power.” There seems to be an awful amount of race injected into public discussion and personally, I will not be shut down in voicing my constitutionally protected right to free speech for fear of being labeled a racist. I am not scared of a “black man with power” but I am scared of top government officials who swore to uphold our constitution but apparently have forgotten that pledge.

Specifically, I am very concerned about the situation whereby we have “czars” reporting directly to President Obama and who report ONLY to Obama. They are not elected and do not have to listen to public dissent nor disclose how they arrive at their decisions. In the case of Wilson Dodge, there has still been no transparency as to how the Auto Task Force and Obama’s Car Czar, Steve Rattner, arrived at the decisions to close some Chrysler dealerships and not others. Our Dodge dealership was well capitalized, profitable, outsold all its competitors in the state of Mississippi for 15 straight years, located in fast growing Rankin County, near major national retailers such as Target, Best Buy and Lowe’s, in nearly new facilities and was a certified 5 Star Service Dealer at the time of its forced closing in June.

Personally, I would rather be allowed to go out of business the American Way…that is, when I can no longer pay my bills, decide I don’t want to be in business any longer or my employees’ paychecks fail to clear the bank. There is something very un-American about forcing a stable, long-time, locally-involved company out of business with no due process of law. In addition to a lack of due process, it shows contempt for our free enterprise system.

Fortunately, I have two other franchises, Kia and Hyundai, which are GAINING market share and are strong up-and-coming franchises. So we will be “all right“.

What’s not “all right” is this health care proposal I heard last week…Americans will be forced to buy health insurance or pay a fine of $3,800. Are you kidding me? I HAVE TO buy this? What if I don’t want to? In the aftermath of cash for clunkers, I was asked to write an article for the Mississippi Business Journal. I asked rhetorically “which would you rather have…an incentive to do what Big Government wants you to do or a fine or imprisonment?” It is not much of a jump from a $4,500 incentive to buy a more fuel efficient vehicle to a $3,800 fine if you don‘t. Unfortunately, that appears the way our country is headed based upon the current health care proposals.

Perhaps, some of these new “policies” would be discussed and decided upon by one of Obama’s “czars” outside of our established legislative process and without constitutional authority. While I never thought I would write an opinion piece defending our painfully slow legislative process, I am outraged at what I see happening to our country.

It wasn’t long ago that the media was writing about how powerless the presidency in the United States was. Outside of making war, the powers given to the president are limited….such as suggesting a budget, making appointments and either signing or vetoing laws which are written by the legislative branch and adjudicated by the judicial branch. Clearly Obama has expanded the role of the president via these powerful “czars” who make policy and decisions without any constitutional authority and in (what seems to me) clear violation of the spirit of separation of duties as designed by the geniuses who founded our nation.

As far as Steve Rattner being crooked as alleged by the many e-mails circulating concerning the politics and potential payoffs involved in the Chrysler and GM bankruptcy dealer terminations, I will say only that it seems to be a common theme among many Obama appointees. I still find it entirely ironic that we have a tax cheat (Timothy Geithner) running the U.S. Treasury.

To be sure, Mr. Geithner at Treasury is running the treasury as well as many banks. I understand that some banks would like to pay back the TARP money but the treasury has refused to allow them to….saying that treasury doesn’t think they are financially secure enough to do so. Could you imagine if you walked into your local bank to pay off a loan and being told you were not allowed to?

So, hear me clearly; I am not afraid of a black man with power. I am not a racist. But I do have a different view of what makes America great and what it will take to get us back on the right track. And I am very concerned about a president or any elected official who has shown a willful disregard for due process, our constitution and the free enterprise system. These three things make our journey as Americans unique and are at the foundation of what makes our country the greatest in the world.

Doug Wilson, a Northsider, is CEO of Wilson Auto Group, the parent of Hyundai and Kia dealerships on Lakeland Drive.