Imperial President: Why Are We Allowing Illegality?

In 1776, the peoples of the 13 Colonies declared their way forward without rule from England.  They declared that rule by a Monarch or similar imperial leader was not what they wanted.  Thus began the United States, based on rule of law and elected representatives, with the People first, the States second and a Federal government third.

Why then, in 2012, do we have a new Imperial President?  How did this happen?  What is he doing to make himself imperial?   President Obama has famously declared several times that he cannot do all of the things he wants to do, for the good of the People, as he sees it, because Congress is deadlocked.  Thus he sees his job as going around Congress using the device of the Executive Order, which is legal in many instances.  Unfortunately, President Obama is using it in ways not intended.  He is also using the power of the White House to have the Executive Branch rule regulation.  He set the tone for his department heads to create very broad regulations which have the force of law, but which have not been voted by Congress.

What are some of the extra-legal and not-Constitutional things he is doing:
1. Internet gaming - Congress passed two specific laws banning Internet gaming.  President Obama has gone around them and eased regulations.
2.  DOMA - The DOJ under Obama and Holder has fought against the Defence of Marriage Act for the past 3 years.  I am not defending or denigrating DOMA here - that is another conversation.  I am pointing out that it is the Duty of the President and DOJ to uphold the laws of the land - they are not doing that.
3. Immigration reform via Executive Order.  Congress has not passed any immigration reform bills for several sessions.  On June 15th, Obama announced that young illegal immigrant will be given 2 year grace periods so they can apply for green card status.  With this, Obama and DOJ more blatantly continue to operate like the DREAM Act is in effect.  They are ignoring the will of Congress.  In addition, the accommodations Obama is now making for political reasons vis-a-vis the upcoming election will probably make a real solution harder in the future.
4. EPA over-reaching.  With Obama's backing, EPA has been making extra-legal rules for years now.  At least the Supreme Court is starting to rein them in.  See Sacketts v. EPA.
5.  No Child Left Behind:  Obama has reinvigorated President Bush's NCLB program by adding new federal standards, but at the same time has used an executive order to grant more waivers of standards to almost half of the states.  Once again he bypasses Congress.
6.  Voting Laws:  Obama and his DOJ continue to ignore federal voting laws.  Worse, they are actively working to destroy voting laws enacted by many states, such as Texas and Arizona, even when those laws essentially mirror federal law.