Presidential Responsibility and Power Executive powers during times of conflict and crisis expand to allow certain actions to occur that would not be viewed as constitutional during a time of peace. This expansion of power allows the president to do what is necessary during times of conflict to ensure the protection of the nation. Although flexibility is necessary during wartime, presidents often test the separation of powers doctrine defined by the Constitution. Article I Section 8 clearly states that Congress has the power to declare war; however, the executive circumvents this by failing to utilize the word “war”. This expansion of presidential power results in a chief executive that exhibits both legislative and executive powers. Therefore, an amendment to Article I Section 8 is essential to prevent the unconstitutional expansion of presidential power during times of conflict. The Amendment shall read: Congress shall authorize the use of military force in all offensive and preemptive conflicts. The President, in the case of imminent danger, may deploy military forces as necessary; upon deployment the President shall report to Congress within forty-eight hours. These constitutional changes reflect the need to distinguish specific powers that each branch will maintain.
Therefore, the vague terminology used in the Constitution needs to be amended to reflect specific duties of each branch of government. A formal declaration of war has not occurred since World War
Technology has changed our lives in more ways than we can possibly write down. It has changed our lives more than we have even realized. The biggest impact that technology has had on the power of the presidency is the way the information spreads. Social media sites have made politics more accessible for many Americans to voice their own thoughts, whether negative or positive. The internet has had an huge impact on the presidential campaigns as well. The social networking sites have always played a powerful role in politics. The candidates can use social media sites as an advantage in order to speak to their voters by direct message. Social media tools including Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and the television have dramatically changed how political campaigns are run and how Americans react to election offices.
The Constitution is supposed to divide war powers between the president and Congress, but in today’s society that has not always been the case. We live in a country with competing views, but our Constitution was created through disagreement. While the Constitution is a source of cherished and unifying political ideas, it can provoke some of the most intense quarrels because of its principles and protections. It is also debated and applied to present circumstances daily. To get back to the presidential power argument, President Barack Obama sent United States military into combat without the consent from Congress. “As a presidential candidate in 2007, Senator Obama stated, “The President does not have power under the constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation” (Yoo). President Barack Obama announced four years later, that he was acting on his constitutional authority to conduct U.S. foreign relations as the commander in chief/chief executive by the intervention with Libya. Throughout our history, neither presidents nor Congress have carried out the beliefs that the constitution requires a declaration of war before the U.S can allow for the military to act. “We have forced abroad more than 100 times but declared war in only five cases: The War of 1812, the
I agree, that the president’s greatest powers are the informal powers, but the President is generally seen as the image of America and American government. At the point when an emergency occurs, when disaster strikes, when the country commands an incident or awesome accomplishment, the country listens to and watches the President, the country's "first subject" and "voice of the general population." The President has lots of different informal powers. They include: setting and authorizing an administrative plan, official requests, conveying troops without an assertion of war, and leading and directing outside arrangement activities, between others.
In the two articles, Presidential Power, by Richard Neustadt and also, Paradoxes of American Presidency, by Cronin and Genovese explains the inabilities and also the powers of the President. In the first detailed article that I mentioned , Presidential Power, explains all the roles and responsibilities of being the president. It explains all the president's roles such as Chief Legislator, Chief Administrator, and Chief of Party, which are all extremely important jobs that have to be done. Presidential Power gives a clear definition of the president's duties and how powerful he really is. The president has duties and responsibilities that has to be done. I believe that the president has as much power as anyone believes he has. After studying and analyzing the two articles, Presidential Power, and Paradoxes of American Presidency, I made a conclusion that the president is a powerful man, but in no way, he is too powerful.
The powers granted to the executive branch and Congress concerning war should, under the U.S. constitution, have more explicit boundaries and limitations. The executive powers are granted to the president under the Article II,
The skeleton-like provisions of Article II have left the words open to definition and redefinition by courts and presidents. This skeleton-like wording leaves it up to an aggressive chief executive and a willing Supreme Court to shape the actual parameters of such powers. In effect, history has rewritten the Constitution. The words are flexible enough to mean different things in different situation. On the whole though, a more expansive view of presidential power has taken precedence over a more restrictive view. The history of the meaning of presidential power through the Constitution has been one of the expansion of power and the enlargement of the meaning of the words of the Constitution.
“It’s not easy being green,” Kermit the Frog laments. Being ordinary often lends itself to being
Research is something I take pride in. I understand that so much can be learned from just reading an article, watching a video, or listening to a podcast. During this project I did all three of those things. Presidential power is still a topic today that we struggle to define. The founders wanted the President to be a “powerless” leader but in contrast we also knew that they wanted the President to also have some power to overrule certain things. President Reagan was a man of enthusiasm, and during the INF negotiation treaties I really believe he just took America under his wing and did everything he could to put America in a better place following the action. President George HW Bush was a man that also wanted the best for America, but he
The expressed power is the power I think most accounts for the powers of the presidency, because they involve a variety of choices. The president is more involved in the nation, because of this way of presidential power. He's the one making decisions, and making them himself. He's not giving the task to someone else. It depends on the country as each culture has a unique relation with power, let alone the social economic and legal backgrounds which are also one of a kind in each nation. Even the legal powers of a president change depending on the country.
The President was elected to run the country and therefore, has the most power of any individual. However, he cannot make a majority of the decisions alone and must make sure he keeps the approval of others in order to keep his job. The Constitution struck a fairly proper balance between empowering and limiting power of the President of the United States, but limited the power more so than empowering. Although the Constitution claimed the President as the leader of the Unites States, he is not able to single-handedly make decisions that affect our country. He is a large influence in a majority of the decisions in the government of the United States. However, he does not have complete authority over others and many of the decisions are
Over time, despite the fact that the Constitution provides the president with only a few specific and enumerated powers, presidential authority has greatly expanded. Previous government administrations have seized opportunities arising during crises such as the Civil War, World War I and II, and the contemporary War on Terror to further expand the scope of executive power. While this expansion of presidential power has been facilitated by Congressional action in certain instances, the executive’s authority expansion is to a greater extent the product of presidential unilateral action based on broad interpretations of enumerated
Determining and defining the boundaries of the war powers of Congress and the President can be exceedingly abstruse, and it continues to vex the court system into the modern era. Moreover, this is exacerbated by the fact that the political quarrels between the President and Congress continue to permeate into the judicial system. The courts cannot adjudicate political issues, and it is not the appropriate institution to do so. Interpreting the law and deciding legal issues is within the purview of the courts not political questions. This dispute must be resolved between the President and Congress. Petitioner, Sen. Robert Haskel, argues that President Sonja Adams violated Article I Section 8, the declaration of war clause, of the U.S. Constitution.
As Howell states in his opening line “what do we expect of our president? The answer is at once obvious and unbelievable: everything” (1, Howell). The President is the elected head of the United States government this position grants them with both authority and power. However the authority and power that come from this are two vastly different things. Presidential power is as Neustadt defines the power to persuade with the effect of creating legislation, where as presidential authority is the formal and figurative duties granted in the constitution. Presidential power is akin to what specific action is chosen, and presidential authority are the perceivable routes of action. Presidential authority acts as the base for presidential power. Authority is determined by political culture and constitutional principles of limited government. The legitimacy for the President’s authority is found in the constitution. The legitimacy of the constitution’s authority rests in the consent of the governed. This document both expands and limits presidential authority which in turn directly affects presidential power. The constitution frames the president to be a leader and grants specific procedural actions. This has formed a public expectation of the president as a final solution to all problems. The result of expanding presidential authority to such vast areas has resulted in expectations that are unattainable for any president. In turn the expansion of presidential authority has
The President acting as commander and chief of our navy and army often comes with controversy. In this debate we are focused on President Obama’s use of the President’s war powers being reasonable or excessive. In this argument we hear from Hongju Koh who is a Legal Adviser with the U. S. Department of State advocating that Obama used them reasonably and Louis Fisher a Scholar in Residence and a member of the Constitution Project advocating that they were excessive.
The Role of the President is multifaceted he is both the head of state and head of The United States government, he is also the Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. The term of office is 8 years and a President may not serve more than 2 terms. Article 2 of the Constitution of the United States of America deems that the President is Head of State, responsible for execution as well as enforcement of laws which are created by Congress. The president has the power to sign legislation into law and human also veto any bill and acted by Congress. Executive orders and appointments of heads of federal agencies, are also issued by the President, who may also issue pardons and grant clemency’s to individuals who have committed federal crimes, except in The case of impeachments.