Does the Presidency now have to much power?

Question

Has the balance intended by the Constitutions's framers been unbalanced?

Solutions?

Answer 1

Actually, I think all politicians have way too much power. In the case of the president, the problem is that he presides over a vast entrenched bureaucracy that cannot change very quickly, and still less when it is asked to down-size. So it's not so much the president's power that has grown directly, but his authority to increase bureaucracy, which grows like mushrooms after a rain.

Answer 2

There have been many books written about the American presidency. But of all that I've read the absolute best one was written over forty years ago, by Richard Neustadt. In his book, "Presidential Power," Neustadt give the best, shortest, and most trenchant definition of presidential power ever rendered...

"The power of the president is the power to persuade."

That's it. That's all it's ever been -- all it is now -- and all it ever will be.

Theodore Roosevelt described the presidency as a "Bully Pulpit," and he was right. But not every preacher who climbs into the pulpit can deliver an effective sermon. Some preachers have converted whole nations -- while others have ended up as "lunch." And the same can be said for presidents.

Because the president is central to American politics, he gets to occupy that bully pulpit. This is why Neustadt is right. If the president can get people on his side, he can wield extraordinary power. It this unbalanced? No way. Consider, the president cannot pass a law or appropriate a penny. And even if he vetoes a bill, a determined Congress can over-ride.

In short, the constraints that the founders imposed to give Congress all the real power still remain today. From both a constitutional and legal perspective, the presidency is one of the weakest offices ever devised. If the president is going to get his way, he MUST convince the people. Some, like Teddy Roosevelt could do this on their own. But for the most part, powerful presidents were made powerful by the circumstances of their times.

In the absense of the Civil War, Lincoln would have been just another nobody 19th century head of state (Millard Fillmore? Benjamin Harrison? Franklin Pierce?). The same could be said for FDR. In the case of G.W. Bush, it was 9-11 that made his presidency. Bush himself is inarticulate as crab-grass. But after the calamity,. everyone looks to the presidency for guidance. And in time of perceived emergency, you pay close attention to the man in the pulpit -- even if he isn't exactly Billy Graham. Bush and his people deftly used that to gather more power, and up until this past election, used it to get their way. This is nothing new in American politics. This is the way the presidency has always been run. In times of perceived crisis, people look to the president for guidance, and presidential power thus increases. But please understand, it's temporary.

Is anything wrong? Not at all. The power of the president is the power to persuade. And what we are now seeing is that the American people are tired of the old "fire and brimstone" sermon they've been hearing, and are now tuning him out. In other words, the American people are increasingly "not persuaded" by him; and thus, Bush's power is diminishing. This is simply how the presidency works -- win some, lose some. The natural ebb and flow of power between Congress and the Executive. (T'is now -- T'was ever thus). This previous election demonstrated that the systems works just fine the way it is. The people, no longer persuaded, sent Bush a clear message. And a rejuvenated Congress will pull in on the reins of executive power.

So, as a kind of round-about way of getting to your question. No, the balance has not been upset; and, it's actually useless to speculate about what the framers intended anyway, because over the centuries, both the Consitution and the nation it was created to serve, have morphed WAY beyond anything the founders could have foreseen or even imagined. Original intent is no longer a valid way of judging constitutional development.

Solutions? None needed. It ain't broke -- don't fix it. Politics as usual. God's in his heaven -- all's right with the world. Live long and prosper. Pray for the Chicago Cubs. Peace.


Hope this answer helps. Cheers, mate.

Answer 3

No.

The balance is pretty much as it was intended to be. As long as the Legislative Branch controls funding, the powers of the Executive Branch are limited. Strong presidents, going all the way back to Lincoln, have always been accused of abusing their powers, but the system has enough flexibility to handle changing times.

Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, imposed a blockade on the South and was accused of tyranny. Roosevelt took control of the economy, imposed censorship and both at times suspended parts of the justice system. The nation survived.

Answer 4

The "lobby" has too much power....Too many people make money from decisions made in Congress and the oval office..and that is exactly what causes corruption in our goverment. People mistakenly believe that it is our economic system that makes us different but in reality it's our political system and religious values that give us that economic system..That's why our democracy is so different from President Washingtons democracy....Is was never supposed to be seen as in balance expect in "hindsight"......EXAMPLE

Civil rights corrects injustice to some degree, affirmative action helped those who suffered from an injustice until it become a method of injustice iteself so conservative era get's rid of affirmative action and currrent feeling about subject is now balanced for the most part where people see that for now it makes good sense in some places but bad sense in miost places.........It's balancing itself out...constantly

Answer 5

No, but the President does. The President has no more power than Congress gives him. The last few Congresses gave Bush a carte blanche to fight terror, which was obviously a mistake. I hope the new Congress will at least provide some oversight.

Answer 6

He he has trampled on the consitution, made war as other presidents have done since Korea without a declariation of, and it needs to be taken back to what the consitution says his pwoers are! The thing is the consitution is a consise document, but look at whats happend since ww2, gun control , freedoms of speech and the press curtailed, now the 4th amendment is out, geez might as well burn the constituion as no one abides by it

Answer 7

The presidency has all the power it needs to do what Big Business tells it to. But not otherwise. Some might say this is not really power.

Answer 8

uhm....Ya think? (Sarcasm)