Rule of law repealed

Earlier this year Congress passed and the President signed the law known as ObamaCare.  Today we learn that the law has been suspended by a bureaucrat for about 1 million people.

The question Americans face is: Are we a country ruled by law or by bureaucrat?

No one knows today whether the law will apply to him or her.  Is this what we mean when we say that we re ruled by laws, not the whims of individuals who rule over us?

The Founders understood that there are two fundamental ways in which government can exercise its authority. The first is a system of arbitrary rule, where the government decides how to act on an ad hoc basis, leaving decisions up to the whim of whatever official or officials happen to be in charge; the second way is to implement a system grounded in the rule of law, where legal rules are made in advance and published, binding both government and citizens and allowing the latter to know exactly what they have to do or not to do in order to avoid the coercive authority of the former.

Congress recently passed a law that changes the structure of the investment industry.  Should I try to get a federal official to change the rules for me?  Is that why we pass laws and then build in authority for others in government to fold, staple or mutilate them?