Does the Executive have too much Power?

In today’s politics it is difficult to have a discussion without mentioning the President. We have seen outrageous policy proposals within the last decade from presidents Bush, Obama, and Trump that make studying politics more interesting. However, now we must ask ourselves two questions, does the Executive have too much power and did the framers intend for the President to execute his or her power in the ways we see it executed today?
Personally, I believe that within the Constitution, the President has ample power to carry out the duties of his office. However, recently, presidents have been overstepping their bounds. According to the National Review and CBS News, President Obama violated his Constitutional powers numerous times. The most famous instance is Obamacare’s Bay State Bailout in which the federal government bailed out the commonwealth Massachusetts’ malfunctioning healthcare exchange. Critics argue that this action is unconstitutional because it violates states rights by allowing the federal government to intervene in a state’s economy that does not affect intrastate commerce.
Furthermore, President Trump has arguably attempted to violate his Constitutional powers by imposing a ban on immigrants from primarily Muslim countries. However, many fail to recognize that the federal government has the power to deny anyone access to the United States for any reason deemed necessary. Subsequently, the federal government has the right to control immigration and the executive branch has the power to enforce the immigration laws on the books.
In modern American politics, I believe that the President has become too powerful and is able to overstep his or her boundaries too easily. Furthermore, I do not believe the framers intended the vast use of executive orders to bypass congressional approval and the use of such tactics is unconstitutional.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2015/12/obama-violate-constitution-top-ten-2015/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/is-obama-overstepping-his-bounds-with-executive-actions/

5 Responses to "Does the Executive have too much Power?"

Abigail Belcher says:

April 12, 2018 at 9:38 pm

Austin,
I think you are absolutely right in your thought that the President has become too powerful. The amount of power that the President has today and has had over the past few presidencies has been remarkable. I think that President’s know that they can get away with a lot more than the average American, simply because he/she evokes fear as the leader of the free world and few people are going to want to challenge someone who has the power to destroy you if you decide to challenge something they are thinking or doing. Take Trump’s twitter account for example. Trump writes multiple tweets daily, and the majority of them are negative and rude regarding people from the Democratic party or someone who is/ has questioned him (I’m thinking former FBI director James Comey off the top of my head). Just like that, Trump is tarnishing people’s good names and taking away their power. The public might express a general dislike for how Trump is choosing to handle these situations with people he has had differences with, but no one ever does anything. If you’re merely a citizen, he knows that you cannot do anything to harm him merely as an individual. If you are a critical party member, he knows he can fire you if you say something that he doesn’t like.
James Hulbert says:

April 15, 2018 at 7:07 pm

Austin,

Thank you for your post. This post is very relevant because of all of the talks about impeachment circulating in the media. The powers of the executive branch, and the president in particular, are very unique and misunderstood. Just on Friday night, Trump ordered an attack, with the help of France and the UK, in Syria because of chemical attacks on civilians in their Civil War. Now, people are arguing that this strike is unconstitutional. The constitution requires congressional agreement for any attack on another nation. If Trump is going to act like such constitutionalist with regards to the second amendment, he needs to be a constitutionalist in all regards. The solution however is simple. If congress spoke up when he did it over a year ago, we may not be having this discussion. So, all branches of government need to hold each other accountable for checks and balances to be successful and to keep the executive branch in check.
Paige Jordan says:

April 15, 2018 at 9:14 pm

Austin, thank you for your post. I find it very interesting to compare the role of the president today as it is today with how the Founder’s originally intended it to be. It is true that the president has assumed powers and responsibilities that the Founders could not have possibly imagined. In general, it seems it becomes increasingly harder to define the lines between what is written in our Constitution to what is just in modern society. In 2009 and 2010, Barack Obama had left a great deal of responsibility to the discretion of Congress regarding his health care reform bill, without much consideration from the White House. Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA) thus resulted in struggles within Congress. Because the Democratic representatives no longer had ensured the 60th vote in Senate to end debate, their strategy involving the Christmas Eve 2009 bill was undermined. Therefore, Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi decided to have the House take up an identical bill that was previously passed. No Republicans supported this tactic, and 34 Democrats voted against it. Republicans referenced a quote by Thomas Jefferson that read “great innovations should not be forced on a slender majority- or enacted without broad support.” In this instance, Founder Thomas Jefferson was used to argue against the actions of the current president. Here, I agree with you and can see how the executive branch oversteps their boundaries. It is somewhat disappointing to see occur, yet we must also recognize how different society was at the time of Thomas Jefferson in comparison to today.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/physiciansfoundation/2014/03/26/a-look-back-at-how-the-president-was-able-to-sign-obamacare-into-law-four-years-ago/2/#1b95dce21020
Calum Johnson says:

April 15, 2018 at 9:51 pm

Interesting post Mr. Marsilia. I agree that it is clear that the president commonly over steps their bounds. However, I do not think this has been an increasing issue. Many past presidents have done similar, or even worse in terms of using their presidential powers. George Bush’s initial military action in Iraq was without congressional approval. Nixon vetoed a law made by Congress that would limit his ability to put troops in Vietnam in order to pursue further military action. FDR created internment camps for Japanese-Americans during WWII with an executive order, violating American’s rights. The issue of presidents having too much power has been an issue throughout history, but that should not stop us from evaluating today’s problems. We should still look to go to how the framers set it and begin to weaken the president’s power, but that may be difficult with the high political tension of today.

https://billofrightsinstitute.org/educate/educator-resources/lessons-plans/presidents-constitution/war-powers-resolution/
Joanna Briand says:

April 15, 2018 at 11:08 pm

Thank you so very much for your post. I believe the growth of the president’s power is necessary to a degree. The president should be strong. Years ago, Congress had time to debate issues because their army could only move as fast as their horses and information couldn’t spread as rapidly. Today, the president can and must act fast enough in an emergency.
I also believe that the president plays a role as a true leader. Congress, at its core, cannot lead as effective as the president can simply because there is only one president, but hundreds of representatives and senators. The president must be strong and powerful enough to make the effective decisions that Congress cannot.
Without a strong president, our country would not prosper. I understand your arguments and I do agree with you, but I also think it’s important to look at both sides of the coin.

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