The Presidency and the Constitution - Assignment Example

Introduction One of the few countries which have a two party system that have the opportunity to control the government is United States of America. Republicans was started in 1790 by the federalists and in the other hand we have the Democrats. The two parties are the major political competing forces in America, the two parities have different ideological differences and thus all the partisan use the possible means to attract the attention of the residents and influence them so that they can get a chance to win the presidency as well as gubernatorial and senate posts. The president has constitutional, institutional and political powers. Of these powers that the president has, the constitutional powers are the weakest and thus the paper will discuss how the 20th century presidents have been able to use their institutional and political resources to overcome these weaknesses. Additionally, the paper will seek to discuss how power can be balanced between the presidents and the congress. The president powers are in the constitution under Article II of the constitution which starts by declaring the president as the chief executive. The constitution defines how the president should be chosen and all the powers are listed and thus the president is elected by the people for the purpose of powerful presidency and independency. In the section 2 and 3 of united states of America constitution the president powers and duties are outlined clearly for example the president has the power and duty to nominate judges, make treaties with other countries, nominate other public officials in the government and even grant pardons. When dealing with the constitution it should not be revoked by any member unless some of the amendments are made. The delegated powers given by the constitution should be followed to the letter since violation of the same will lead to a jail term and other stipulated measures. Military The president is the commander in chief of the National Military and other state National Guard Units, the power given to the president is stipulated in the constitution and thus the congress has the power to declare war to other countries which posts threats to other nations. For example, incase of chemical weapons that are manufactured by other countries or mass killings of civilians, the constitution states that through the congress military can be deployed there to deal with the situation. From 1941 in December, the congress has never declared that military be deployed to a particular country and help to keep peace there but it is the power vested to the president as the commander in chief of the National Military and the State National Guard Units. The president has not been asking the congress to deploy the America military to those countries. For example, President Harry Truman did not wait until the congress decided to deploy American military to South Korea when the North Korea forces invaded South Korea. The constitution states clearly that the president can only send the American military if only the law is passed by the congress but this does not apply since of the inherent executive power to defend the nation (Crenson and Benjamin, 56). The emergency declaration is allowed so as to curb the mass killings of individuals. Another example is when president Obama used air strikes and drone against Mu’ammar Qaddafi the congress were not involved for more than 60 days and the president was not questioned by the congress rather Obama was praised for the help of overthrowing Qaddafi regime. The military as an institution has been used to overcome the constitutional weakness of not allowing the president to deploy military unless through the congress but the inherent executive power and being the commander in chief of the National Military and National Guard Units the president has power to defend the country. Diplomatic Since the president of United States of America is the chief representative when dealing with other countries, the president has the power stipulated by the constitution to make treaties for the United States. For the treaty to be permitted by the government it requires two- third vote. Currently, the president use executive agreement which acts as a treaty and thus no requirement of the senate advice and consent. This constitutional law is ignored since the president is the chief representative when dealing with other Nations for business transactions or other related issues. Through the use of executive agreements, relations are established instead of signing of treaties without consideration of the senate. Judicial It is the powers and duties of the judiciary to pardon those who are involved in threatening Americans security, where the power of life or death may be declared by the judicial system. But the president may use the executive powers granted by the constitution to pardon an individual. For example, in 2000 president George W. Bush pardoned individuals though they were fewer compared with President Carter in 1977 among others (Crouch, 45). It is the duty of judiciary but the president may use the power vested on him to punish others though the judiciary is concerned with the role this is only because of the executive powers which are declared by the constitution. Executive power The powers of the president as discussed above are contained in the article II section 3 and still stipulates that the president has a key role to make sure that the law is executed in the correct way. In the section 2 of the constitution of United States, the president has the powers to appoint, supervise and remove the executive officers but this must be approved by the senate. For example, it is the work of the senate to approve appointment off ambassadors, ministers, federal judges among others where the president is limited to these appointments since the majority of the senate must approve it failure to which they are not appointed. In some cases, the president does not consider the senate and thus goes directly to appointing the state officials without recognizing the legal and constitutional responsibilities. Due to the party, popular mobilization and the administration of the president through and the Democrats party having the majority in all the houses, the president is able to dominate policy making process. This gives the president power to lead the Nation in case of the war and other emergency issues. These presidential powers are as a result of effort made by the presidents who have been into the office enlarging there powers of the office. Since the president is elected by the majority 50% plus one vote, the president has the influence in the party, through popular mobilization and the administration used. This makes the president to implement programs to be followed where the opposition can not be able to oppose these programs since they have the majority votes in all the houses, giving the president all the power to control and to defend the nation (Genovese and Robert, 96). In future, it is likely that the president will be the one who will have all the powers having the possibility of ignoring the congress. The congress is used by all the presidents to implement the legislative agendas and thus in the future it seems that the president will be the only one who will be having the power to control the government without consulting other stakeholders. For the balance of power between the president and the congress, strict measures should be taken to make sure that constitutional is followed without considering the powers of the executives. If balance of power is not considered, then democracy will not be exercised, additionally dictatorial presidents will have a chance to emerge taking the nation back to those dark days where democracy was not considered. Through bureaucracy and consideration of legislature, judiciary, senate, cabinets among other arms of the government they should be part and parcel of decision making to control the powers of the presidents and congress. Conclusion Though the president has the constitutional powers which are clearly stated, the president should not be a dictatorial leader and thus it is important for the president to consider the other arms of the government before making decisions. For instance, appointments must be approved by the senate and thus the channels must be followed as stipulated in the constitution. Works Cited Crenson, M and Benjamin, G. Presidential Power: Unchecked and Unbalanced. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007.print. Crouch, P. The Presidential Pardon Power. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas, 2009. Print. Genovese, M and Robert, J. The Presidency and the Constitution. New York: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2005. Print. Available from https://www.sendspace.com/file/b35zdf Read More