Presidency/ executive branch revisited - Essay Example

Essay, History and Political Science Topic: Presidency/ executive branch revisited The Editor,BRANDING IRONDear Editor, I have learned something very interesting in my political science class and I think everyone should know about it. It relates to the executive powers of the American President. The American President is a twice-blessed individual. Firstly, he has specified legal powers under the Constitution as for his duties and responsibilities. Secondly his executive powers during the period of National crisis are awesome.

His powers grow like octopus that grows in all the directions. At that level he is the most powerful individual of the most powerful Nation on this Planet Earth and he is able to cross all limitations and can beat all barriers. America has an executive at the top with vast executive powers. The people of the country know it and they also know being the torch-bearers of democracy, that such a level of power is essential for dynamic governance of the country and to hold the head high in world politics.

An individual with limited and restricted powers will not be able to function as the top executive of the Nation. The people have elected him because they repose faith in his judgments. Notwithstanding the checks and balances, the one who occupies the White House is like the flagship and deserves top honors. He is always doing something for the Nation. He governs and dictates within the limitations of democracy. When it is necessary to act, he necessarily acts. If he fails at those moments, he invites peril for the Nation.

He is the creator of the destiny of the Nation in those chosen, selective moments in the history of the Nation. He builds or breaks! Crises show his metal and his mental toughness! The few vague paragraphs in the US Constitution specify the powers of the President. What is unsaid about his powers is more important than what has been prescribed in those printed phrases and sentences. His ordinary powers are extraordinary and his extraordinary powers in times of crises are superlative and can create serious dents in the destiny of America and nations of the world.

By exercising such powers Presidents have relocated the geographical boundaries of the Nations; destroyed their economies. Whether such actions are good or bad is another issue; but no President has been impeached in the US history for exercising his powers. The minimalist approach to the President’s job description is perhaps not due to the ignorance by the framers of the Constitution, but a deliberate act to let the President grab powers, when considered necessary to grab it in the interest of the Nation.

That vagueness in the specifications of the powers of the Presidents provides the latent strength to the President to act. Let us have a cursory glance at his ordinary powers: He is the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. He orders the state units of the National Guard into action. He receives ambassadors and works with the leaders of the Nations. He nominates cabinet officials and the heads of the government departments, which Senate must approve later. Judges to federal courts and justices to the Supreme Court are his appointees.

His extraordinary powers: In emergent situations he is empowered by Congress to manage national security or the economy. He issues executive orders which, ipso facto, are the law of the land. He decrees pardons for federal offences. He can veto legislation approved by Congress but the Congress can override the veto by two thirds majority. He has powers to send troops without declaring a war against the targeted country. His executive orders make him a unique and the most feared individual from all ends.

In situations of emergency he enjoys limitless powers. A couple of examples from the American history throw a hint at his ‘colossal’ powers. Abraham Lincoln issued an executive order to fight the Civil War that changed the destiny of the Nation for all time to come; the country entered World War I on the strength of the executive order issued by Woodrow Wilson; internment camps for the Japanese were established at the behest of the executive order issued by Franklin Roosevelt. As such I reassert that the American President is a twice-blessed individual.

The Nation is blessed when he acts; the Nation is also blessed when he does not act, for he knows that discretion is the better part of valor. His powers are the topic for the unending debate and for the successful functioning of democracy, the debate must not stop!