Expansion of Power
Kojo Ennin
Civics
Mr. Kinel
December 1, 2012
Expansion of the Presidency After each president has gone through their presidency, ever since the Father of our country George Washington, the powers of the president has increased little by little. To the extent that their powers are going beyond what the Constitution and the Framers expected it to be. Our current president, thanks to the input from past presidents, has so much power he does not realize. The issue now is whether to go against this expansion of power or to still watch as more presidents seize even more power, against the Constitution. There may be some problems attached to it but the way things have gone over the year, how president have taken more power, I actually agree with it. This increase of power is something that has wrought over the years and there is nothing we can do to change it back. As many people have put it the president is “also the Supreme Warlord of the Earth.” Like I have mentioned in my first paragraph the increase of the authority of the president satisfies me greatly. As Niccolo Machiavelli put it “He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.” Without the power the president has he/she is another tool of Congress if obeying the Constitution. The whole point of the Framers re-writing the Articles of Confederation is to create a stronger national government. What is the whole point if the most powerful person in the country has so much limitation put on him/her by the Constitution that he/she is pretty much powerless? The president has become, according to political author Gene Healy, “a soul nourisher, a hope giver, a living American talisman against hurricanes, terrorism, economic downturns, and spiritual malaise. He-or she-is the one who answers the phone at 3am to keep our children safe from harm. The modern president is America 's shrink, a social worker”. So to all you political analysts who study the expansion of presidential power if the
Civics
Mr. Kinel
December 1, 2012
Expansion of the Presidency After each president has gone through their presidency, ever since the Father of our country George Washington, the powers of the president has increased little by little. To the extent that their powers are going beyond what the Constitution and the Framers expected it to be. Our current president, thanks to the input from past presidents, has so much power he does not realize. The issue now is whether to go against this expansion of power or to still watch as more presidents seize even more power, against the Constitution. There may be some problems attached to it but the way things have gone over the year, how president have taken more power, I actually agree with it. This increase of power is something that has wrought over the years and there is nothing we can do to change it back. As many people have put it the president is “also the Supreme Warlord of the Earth.” Like I have mentioned in my first paragraph the increase of the authority of the president satisfies me greatly. As Niccolo Machiavelli put it “He who wishes to be obeyed must know how to command.” Without the power the president has he/she is another tool of Congress if obeying the Constitution. The whole point of the Framers re-writing the Articles of Confederation is to create a stronger national government. What is the whole point if the most powerful person in the country has so much limitation put on him/her by the Constitution that he/she is pretty much powerless? The president has become, according to political author Gene Healy, “a soul nourisher, a hope giver, a living American talisman against hurricanes, terrorism, economic downturns, and spiritual malaise. He-or she-is the one who answers the phone at 3am to keep our children safe from harm. The modern president is America 's shrink, a social worker”. So to all you political analysts who study the expansion of presidential power if the
Cited: Healy, Gene. "The Cult of the Presidency." Reason Vol. 40, No. 2. June 2008: 20-28. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 03 Dec 2012.