LogFAQs > #949749304

Lightning Strikes posted...

What I had hoped would be the response to Trump though was the removal of power from the executive. Its messed up that one person can wield that much power with fairly insufficient checks. Its also unique in democracies, even compromised ones. Like, remember after the failed coup in Turkey, when Erdogan used a narrow referendum to give himself a ton of extra powers as President? And how he was rightly decried as a tinpot dictator for it? He still doesnt have nearly as much internal power as the POTUS does. Same deal with Orban. Its wild, and a relic of a bygone age when leaders had a lot more power. Its very concerning that the presidency is as powerful as it is.

It's because it's the result of perverse electoral incentives. Much of the power that the presidency has accumulated, especially in recent decades, has been unchallenged by Congress, if not actively abetted by Congress, because they've found it more politically advantageous for themselves to avoid taking what may be politically difficult votes/action upon themselves so they have just let the President do it.

It's very much a continued pattern of how modern government absolutely does not work "as the framers intended." They thought that each branch would prioritize protecting their own authority and that the "checks and balances" would arise in large part because any attempt by one of the other brnaches to expand their power and encroach on the territory of the others would be met by the offended branch sticking up for itself and challenging to keep that authority.

Instead, rather predictably, loyalty has become mroe to one's political party than to their branch so politicians, and Congresspeople in particular, are more than happy to let another branch accumulated power even at their expense so long as they perceive it as helping them or having their political party/ideology.

While a lot of problems with our government are fundamental and would require Constitutional Amendments to fix, this one could largely be helped if Congress just got a backbone and stood up to the Executive getting more and more powerful - but they're not because in many cases they themselves have been pushing their responsibilities onto the Executive. Even if you had a President that actively were trying to "give back" power (already unlikely by nature) I don't think Congress would willingly take some of it back!

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