...Limits of Power The president of the United States is often referred to as the most powerful man in the world – and with good reason. As a global hegemon, the decisions made by the U.S. executive are under a constant spotlight, and are often scrutinized. With so much power entrusted in one man, things are bound to go wrong. The president is simply too powerful, and the American people would be better suited with a less-dominant office. Since not all powers of the president are created equal, it is imperative to first distinguish between certain functions, in order to get a better sense of the broad, main areas a president is actually dealing with on a day-to-day basis. A more practical approach to identifying presidential powers is by breaking them up into five key duties: (1) head of state, (2) chief diplomat, (3) chief legislator, (4) chief executive, and (5) commander in chief. Although the five functions mentioned above do not cover everything a president is required to do, it is relatively easy to place both expressed and inherent powers within each subcategory, which allows for greater in-depth analysis. To begin, we’ll dive into one of the president’s more ceremonial powers – as the head of state. Head of State The president is required to act in a formal role as head of state. This role is often referred to as being ceremonial,...
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...rights of the people. The amendments 16 through 27 show a pattern of increased power of the government and increased protection of rights for the people. The amendments also show a change in the United States. The United States government wanted to make the nation into a better place by adding 12 amendments. The amendments gave a little bit more to the people. The amendments protected the rights of the people which meant no one could take their rights away. It gave people a little but more reassurance that they will always be protected by the amendments. Like how the 19th amendment said that women...
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...from taking them away. Government is the problem, not the solution. Policy is inherently bad. It was the fear of what the government could do to you that motivated its nationhood. Why the US is different -founded on an idea - Born free- rights are inalienable -Wary on power -Strong on nationhood -Founded on ‘science of politics’ -People are supreme via Constitution The politics of a written text ‘Scarcely any political question arises in the United States that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question.’ Alexis de Tocqueville (1840) Democracy in America, Book I, ch.16 -slavery -civil rights -abortion -healthcare Constitution Problematic Bill of Rights (1791) The first 10 amendments to the Constitution -1,2,3: limits of Congress 4, 5, 6: limits on executive 7, 8: limits on both (via judiciary) 9, 10: federalism (limits on national power) All posit limits on the institutions in the Constitution. Two parts of the doc, the first iteration is not sufficient to cool the fears of the anti-federalism. Madison creates these posited limits. The Separation of Powers The basic problem of government. How one separates power. There are 3 key obstacles to power in the USA. SoP – obliges competition across departments. Federalism is the primary barrier states have against the federal...
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...with the North winning the war. After that though leaders were trying to figure out how to make America working as one again. The South was treated as a conquered land, and President Lincoln, President Johnson, and Congress all came up with plans on how to do just that. All attempts failed until Congress’s second proposal took hold. They had the issue of what to do with the slaves, and all plans contained the Fourteenth Amendment, which gave slaves freedom. The South never got rid of their racism towards African Americans, and did everything they could to prevent black people from enjoying their new freedom....
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...Government Former President Thomas Jefferson once said, “Government are instituted among Men, deriving their just Power from the Consent of the Governed.” Since the second continental congress declared America’s independence from Great Britain on July 4, 1776 the United States government has sought to realize the fundamental principle on which our nation was founded. This was the start of the government we now know and still honor today. As our school children say every morning in class, as our founding fathers wished for us, that all people have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This paper will answer a handful of questions such as; what were the reasons our forefathers divided the government into the legislative, judicial, and executive branches? How are the three branches of the U.S. government supposed to interact? Is the system successful? Why or why not? Are the branches balanced in power? How was the conflict between supporters of a strong federal government and champions of states’ rights characterized then as opposed to now? How could things have been designed more efficiently, if at all? Our founding fathers divided the government into three separate branches was because they planned to implement a democratic government that would work to serve the citizens and not regulate them. In other words, the founding fathers wanted to devise an organization where no single individual or assembly would have too much authority. Basically...
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...be argued that the US President is becoming increasingly weaker rather than stronger, despite the writings of Arthur Schlesinger in his book ‘The Imperial Presidency. Gerald Ford remarked that the “Presidency was in peril” showing the fall of power for the US President. There are many limits on the powers of the President, however many could argue that these are not enough in preventing the president from being imperial from the other branches of government. One argument that the Presidency is imperilled is that no President has been able to exert the same amount of power that Franklin D Roosevelt did during the 1930s and 40s. Roosevelt remains the President to have increased the role of the executive branch of government with his New Deal policies which created organisations such as EXOP. He also broke the convention that a President only stood for two terms, becoming the only President to be elected for four terms. However, once his presidency was over, the powers of the President were soon limited to prevent the President from becoming too powerful. The 23rd amendment ensured that a President would serve no more than two terms. Thus all the Presidents following FDR have been unable to demonstrate as much power as he did. Even his successor, President Truman, could not do as much in office as FDR, despite having to deal with the fallout from the end of World War Two. In contrast however, some Presidents have been able to show a large amount of power overseas, rather than...
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...Fear of Losing Power “It is said that power corrupts, but actually it's more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.” In the play Macbeth written by Shakespeare, Lord Macbeth the great warrior is conquered by the mammoth and mighty power which later on leads to him being corrupted and making inadequate decisions, all due to his yearning for power throughout the play. Not only do we observe that his want for power has corrupted him, but we also witness this in society today with Kings, Dictators presidents and even when the military fighting for power and their adversity. They will go to above and beyond to do anything that gives them the power of winning. That is why...
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...Before taking PLSC 112 this summer, my knowledge and views of the American government and politics were very limited. I’m embarrassed to admit it, but I have always been a little ignorant when it came to knowledge about the government or political issues, but have always wished that I knew more, especially with the economic problems we are facing today. I never really did form many political opinions, one way or the other. I vote every election, but never really understand the bigger picture at hand. Such as, all the issues that a candidate stands for or the impact of proposals on the government. When people around me have conversations about American politics, I am embarrassed that I either do not understand what they are saying, or cannot add to the conversation because I don’t know what to say. I guess you could say that I have always been a little cynical when it came to politics. Part of this reason is because I have always felt that the political game played in American politics was just a bunch of people talking baloney, making empty promises, trash talking their opponents, and trying to persuade people to think their way. And whoever does this the best wins, end of story. I’ve always known that there was more to American politics that this, but never really tried to find out more. So, when I signed up for this class, I wanted to shed my ignorance and learn more about my government and how it operated. I am proud to say that my knowledge of our government has been expanded...
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...Union” (US Const. Preamble). They intended to establish a central government without granting it too much power. To ensure that, the framers both, limited and empowered the government in certain ar- eas. But since the original seven articles of the Constitution are over 200 years old, the framers could not foresee the expansion of the government’s power that has happened until the present day. With the “war on terror” being one of the governments priorities, questions arise if the gov- ernment has become too powerful, especially with regard to practicing surveillance. This essay aims to analyse the limits and powers given to the government by the framers in the seven Arti- cles of the Constitution, and finally apply these Articles to the government’s practice of sur- veillance today. The most essential points limiting the government’s power is the separation of power and the system of checks and balances. The federal government itself consists of three branches, the legislative, executive, and judicial branch; in other words, Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court. The power is divided between these three branches in order to keep any of them from becoming too powerful. Thus, the framers intended to prevent a corruption of power and tyranny over the states by imposing controls on each branch. The legislative branch, for in- stance, is kept in check by the President, who has the power to veto bills proposed by the for- mer, to call or adjourn a meeting of Congress, and to recommend...
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...The Electoral College Should be Abolished. The Constitutional Convention new the leader of the must be chosen in an informed process that would consider the wishes of every citizen without giving one too much power to any one group. The delegates think the president and vice president should be chosen by a direct popular vote of the people. They did not trust the voters have enough information to make a good choice. But is the system they put in place better? I think not, their system has a lot of flukes. The electoral college violates political equality (Doc D), it favors some citizens over others, depending solely upon the state in which voters cast their vote for president. only need 11 of the biggest states to win the election, popular vote can get overlooked because the electoral vote is what counts....
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...advocating for the division of power through the government. Mason, one of the founding fathers, expressed his views of the Constitution in “Objects to the Constitution” which proves that he would support the U.S relations with the Cuban Embargo. Mason started off his early years in Fairfax, Virginia. As a young boy, he suffered major loss due to the death of his father. His opinion on slavery made him a unique character, his belief of understanding the importance of slavery but felt they would be educated and free. Masons’ objective decisions set the path for his later accomplishments as a law regulator. His interests in law allowed him to become a Virginia statesman, where he then wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776. During this time, he developed a bias towards local governments and opposing executive powers to one person, such as the president. George Mason believes that congress should have the official say in all things relating to political affairs....
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...a right to hate the President, but make sure you have the facts straight first. With all of this, he still wakes up each day and goes to battle for the ones who support him and more importantly for those who do not. How difficult it must be to know that just to be accepted by your fellow citizens, you must prove every detail of your existence. No other person has been put through so much scrutiny and so much debate yet he still pushes forward. Knowing his purpose is much larger than himself. To hate someone for being a different color, race or gender is pretty much normal for this society. To deny someone the right to live, work or even worship in America is common, though some try to cover that fact up. Too many have been killed, hung, tortured and burned just because of being different or misunderstood. For this individual to have knowledge of history in America and to have felt the hate, he still wants to push on to complete the race to make a difference. Well, that is the kind of person he is. I am sure he knew the tremendous challenge set before him and the lack of support. Still each day, little by little, he kept attacking the problem and finding solutions to keep his promise. I hope to reintroduce and help you understand that this person has experienced hatred. He has seen the effects of hatred and has lived around it. He has overcome the negative impact that surrounds hatred only to use its negative power to succeed. ...
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...topic of the news for many years. It has caused many debates among several different individuals. Democracy, like anything, has its pros and its cons as well. In the following paragraphs will be the tip of the iceberg of some things that are debatable about democracy in America. One topic in particular that has been debated is the Constitution. The Constitution was written in 1787. The Constitution is a nation’s basic laws. It creates political institutions and divides or assigns power among governments (Edwards, Wattenberg, & Lineberry, 2008). When the Constitution was written all those years ago the founding father were putting a system together to make sure that no official received to much control and go power crazy. One of the best pros to the constitution is that the power is divided among government officials. As stated in the paragraph above, this helps to keep power equal among those government officials. For example, a president is only able to serve two terms in office and the president has to be elected back in office at that. This keeps new ideas and new people in office. Where there are pros, there are always cons. One con that comes with the Constitution is it is very hard to have the Constitution amended. There have only been a handful of times that the Constitution has been amended. The Bill of Rights is one that was able to be amended, and it was for a good cause. Another thing that has some American’s questioning the democracy in America is voting....
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...Presidency suggests that rather than being too powerful, the President does not have enough power to be effective. In contrast, imperial presidency is characterised as when a president has greater power than the constitution allows. One can argue that his pursuit of major domestic policy goals has been much more aggressive than his predecessor, Bush, suggesting Obama’s presidency as imperial. Obama once quipped, “I’m the President of the United States, not the emperor of the United States”. One argument supporting the assertion that the US presidency is “more imperiled than imperial” is the president being limited by political pressures. In 2012, Obama stated that if chemical weapons were used in Syria, he would use military intervention. However, when they were used in 2013, he seemingly tried to delay action. Explanations as to why he delayed include falling public support for intervention and the UK Parliament voting against intervention. As Commander in Chief, Obama had the power to intervene but was limited by informal, outside pressures. This demonstrates that although constitutionally a president has certain powers, political pressures limit him. Obama’s approval ratings would have fallen if he invaded without public support and this suggests that the president is imperiled, not imperial. This evidence supports the assertion that the US presidency is “more imperiled than imperial” because although constitutionally the president has power, he is limited by outside measures....
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...giving they a political influence by pouring money into campaigns of congressional candidates and congressmen, assuring investment banks to maintain influence and position in the White House and the Treasury department. Theses “megabanks” had balance sheet assets that accounted for more than 60 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. In March of 2009, the presidents of thirteen of these “Megabanks” met at the White House with the President, Obama that gave a message, “everybody has to pitch in. We’re all in this together” –President Obama (13 Bankers, page 4) this message giving a clear indicator the thirteen bankers needed the government and in turn, the government needed these 13 bankers to maintain stability of the economy. Thomas Jefferson was strongly suspicious of the financial industry and of banks and feel they are more dangerous than standing armies. Jefferson feared that the economic power held by banks have the possibility to grow out of government control. Jefferson’s vision for the United States was more of a farming and agricultural economy, in such had little political and economic power. The opposition to Jefferson, came from Alexander Hamilton;...
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