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The Power Of The Presidency

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Abstract Americans are inherently suspicious of strong centralized leadership, while simultaneously demanding a powerful, popular leader that solves all of the nations problems. This paradox sparks disagreement about what and how much the government should do, which has led to a polarized government. It has created an environment in which politicians can’t get elected unless they sell themselves as partisan, polarized leaders. This leads to a divided government, more specifically a divided Congress, which is often left ineffective and unable to agree/pass any bills. As the nation’s need for the government to make decisions that help the people, we have created a political environment in which the president needs the use of executive …show more content…

Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to regularly use executive orders to pass legislation, issuing a total of 1081 executive orders, almost matching the total amount of executive orders of all past presidents combined (Dodds, 7). Roosevelt had an expansive view of the presidency, believing that the governing power should be placed in the president. This has been the philosophy of most presidents since. Theodore Roosevelt defined the start of the modern presidency, and ever since the American public’s attitude toward their government has shifted. Polarization and divided government have become the new norms of government, especially since the Eisenhower administration, as well as the emergence of a presidential paradox. The paradox is as follows: Americans always complain about the invasion of the government in their lives, while demanding a powerful and ambitious leader that can solve the nations problems. Americans inherently put their political trust in the president over all other divisions of the government, therefore forcing an executive branch that has more power than the others. As for polarization, bipartisanship has essentially disappeared from Congress, making it virtually impossible to get legislation passed. In this new era of politics, executive orders are needed for presidents to get anything done.

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