The Executive Branch

During very important situations, the presidents of the United States have sent troops into war over one-hundred fifty times. Having the president in the executive branch revitalized the importance of that section of government and the essential power the executive branch possesses. Throughout history, there have been many fights about which branch of government is the most important and society says each section has their own exceptional duties which make each one special. Due to Montesquieu’s idea of checks and balances the government tried to make all the branches equal. The executive branch was unintentionally made the most powerful section of the United States government. The executive branch of the United States democracy has gained
more power over time and has now the most important jobs and duties out of the three in the government .Furthermore, this represents the failure of the idea of checks and balances developed by Baron de Montesquieu which was made to keep the three branches of government equal. The president holds a very important position in the executive branch.
During war times, the president has a very hard decision to make, whether to go to war or hold back and be conservative. As head role of the executive, and head of the United States government, the president has an important job of making sure that the laws are faithfully executed, commanding the military, and overlooking the judicial branch to see if there is any problems. Stephanie Reid, an author takes a direct quote from the Constitution that states, “[t]he President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States.”(Constitution) The Constitution is saying how the president should be in control of the most prestigious thing the United States possess, the military. This control represents the failure of Montesquieu's idea of checks and balances. The Constitution is basically tearing up the idea of checks and balances. Furthermore, this represents a conflict between the executive
branch's power and the idea of checks and balances. The conflict is represented by the president being able to call the shots and having too much power. The power should be spread out evenly is what Montesquieu is trying to say. Having president consume all of the presidential power and being able to control the military could ultimately result into a dictatorship. Another conflict is starting to undulate, the dictatorship of the United States government. If the president and the executive branch keeps on gaining power rapidly, this is a risk factor for a dictatorship and the crumbling of the saying, “everyone has a say”( Baines 1) The collapsing of a democracy would be ghastly because normal life would be over and working terrible jobs.
Montesquieu's checks and balances seemed like a good idea at first and has just started crumbling ever since the idea was proposed. If this was going to work, the three branches of government would have spread the power more evenly and not given the president that large amount of power. The United States executive branch has been looking more like a dictatorship every time there is a foreign debate or problem. The only thing that would be alright about having a dictatorship would having the dictator only being able to take office for only six months. Being in office for six months seems really short for a tyrant, the United States would need to rebell against the dictatorship to have an election to elect a new tyrant. Having to wait a four year term for the president to leave office seems to long for some people so it could ultimately lead up to some type of tyranny or dictatorship. Janet Napolitano, an american writer adds that, “The executive branch of the government no longer respects the legislative.”(Napolitano) Janet is saying that there is another reason
why the United States might take a turn for the worse and turn into a totalitarian government. This would completely wipe out any of Montesquieu's ideas, especially checks and balances. By having the executive branch no longer respect the legislative branch, there is a disconnection between two parts of government which causes a conflict between the two branches which could lead to the executive branch gaining even more power. If the executive ultimately disregards the legislative branch and does not even care about the enforcement of laws, and the if the executive branch can go to war without the consent of anyone, bad things could happen. Lachlan Markay, a staff writer for the Washington Beacon adds that, “The Obama Administration has not even waited for congressional action before charting its own legislative course.”(Markay) Lachlan Markay is summarising in his long article that the things president Obama does have been deteriorating the United States democracy and turning it into a tyranny. The five things that have been turning the executive branch into a dictatorship is, “Environmental Regulation, Labor Law, Immigration Law,Selective Enforcement of Federal Law and regulating the Internet”(Markay) The environmental regulation is being controlled by president Obama. Who “made it his mission to impose economy-killing environmental regulations on America in spite of clear congressional opposition.”(Markay) President Obama is killing the well running economy. Wall Street had been flourishing in wealth, but ever since Obama has been president Wall Street has been going down by at least two percent each year due to the heavy taxes enforced my Obama. President Obama has been turning the executive branch into a dictatorship or even a tyranny because the heavy commands and harsh laws enacted into the citizen's everyday life. Out of one hundred people, seventy-eight say that in the future there will be a dictatorship in the United States. The Labor Law was enforced because Obama wanted the election to go down from six weeks to ten to twenty one days. This is the president taking control and not letting employers present their cases. The executive branch is trying to achieve the same goal without Congress's approval. Without Congress’s approval, the executive branch is basically going through the whole United States government back and disregarding all the fellow citizens giving the executive branch a bad image. More importantly, the immigration law is being controlled by the Obama Administration which has not even waited for congressional action before charting their own legislative course. The presidential administration is going on action without even waiting for the congressional action. This is another reason why the executive branch cannot be trusted because it can turn into a dictatorship really quick. Subsequently, the selective enforcement of federal law is what pushes the executive branch into a dictatorship. The law is that Obama is not going to push Congress to repeal federal laws against marijuana use,Obama’s Justice Department decided in 2009 that it would simply stop enforcing those laws. Not enforcing those laws is like not feeding your dog. If people keep on smoking marijuana they can die or have severe after effects. The president is setting up the people from Colorado and Oregon for failure. Additionally, regulating the internet is another sign of dictatorship in the executive branch. Obama’s Federal Communications Commission decided late last year to assume authority over Internet regulation despite a ruling by a federal appeals court explicitly denying the commission that authority.(Markay) Overall, the over consumption of power by the executive branch has given the president a bad image to the outside world.