Presidential Powers

The Executive Branch in general today displays a type of leadership unique to America in my opinion, especially in the Federal level. The President has a very specific job, different from the monarchy forms that preceded it. I feel that our founding fathers would definitely be surprised however with today's government.

The President should exercise a checks and balances type of government, meaning one branch has power to overrule the other if enough comply. Today I feel that often the president tries to do the job of another branch, like create a law, or inflict punishment, where this would be more in the lines of a different branch. We talked about executive privilege and absolute power, and the president really does not have either. They have a job like any other and are expected to perform this job to the best of their ability without branching off, like we have seen with past presidents.

The governmental hierarchy is that of something called Federalism. The federal government holds an umbrella over the state and local governments, yet they are free to dictate themselves. Although the president is the Chief Executive Officer of America essentially, he or she does not have power to dictate directly within the state or local levels. Definitely there are issues which may be overruled or seen by the federal level, specifically the president, however the actual issues should remain within the lesser levels, like how I believe our Founding Fathers began this government.

Finally, the President is the Commander in Chief of the army, essentially leading the common people. He does not have the power to declare war, only Congress does. The President leads into battle, and serves in military affairs, likewise he is a legislator, he does not have power to make laws without the consent of two-thirds of both senate and the house of representatives. The President is undoubtedly the most powerful person in America, however he does not have absolute power. I find that recently especially some presidents do believe to be able to exercise that non-existent power, and as we have seen with presidents like Richard Nixon, they do not have the power to do whatever they please if it goes against the law as seen with Water Gate. I believe our Founding Fathers would be rather surprised to see how our Presidents are today as opposed to a hundred years ago, however the main concept remains, of a powerful, non-tyrannical leader chosen by a democratic election of the people's voice. That has stayed the same, therefore perhaps they would not be as upset because the prinicple is the same, the roles have just changed a bit