In the Wall Street Journal, Lanhee Chen takes a look at some of the steps that will be necessary in order to undo all of President Obama’s unilateral actions:

With a stroke of a pen, the next president could roll back efforts to expand the reach of labor unions, mandates requiring the expanded use of renewable energy by the federal government, and Mr. Obama’s foolhardy reconciliation with Iran and Cuba.

Then there is the formal rule-making process, which has produced far-reaching policy change through agency-promulgated regulations. A review of this activity could begin on day one of a new presidency but will be more time consuming and challenging to reverse.

Taken as a whole, Mr. Obama’s use of executive orders, presidential memorandums, agency directives and guidance to achieve his policy aims is without precedent in its disregard for the people’s elected representatives.

Of course, the problem is much bigger than this.  Consider John Hinderaker’s commentary on Obama’s habitual stonewalling of investigations.  That indicates a much larger problem.

The regular ebb and flow of the American electoral mood might give Republicans an opportunity to undo Obama — a possibility that is probably more likely than the Republicans actually doing so.  That would only be a reprieve, though, until the next time the cultural forces in the news and entertainment media, on college campuses, and basically all of the social institutions that have been overrun with Democrat operatives who pretend not to be partisan push the electoral mood back in their party’s favor.

The deeper problem is cultural.  Americans allowed our social institutions sell us on the scam of Obama and our news media to cover up for his demagoguery, corruption, incompetence, and usurpations. That’s the real problem.

We need to reengage with our civic society and with our social institutions with renewed confidence in our heritage.  That’s going to take more than the stroke of a pen.  It’s going to take the decision of millions of Americans to turn away from distractions and take some minor risks with their lives in order to assert their values.