Today's class was very refreshing. It was more like the traditional seminar concept where everyone shares their opinions and we actually got some decent class participation today.
We were discussing this massive list of Articles we had been assigned and I got some interesting view points. The part that resounded the most with me was learning about Lincoln's use of his War powers as Commander in Chief and how he pushed the limits of the Constitution. I wasn't sure of my opinion on the matter and I'm still not. One has to ask if it's OK to overstep your bounds as the President, Constitutionally, if it truly is in the best interests of the nation, or it it's never OK.
I am totally opposed on moral grounds but in terms of Presidential strategy, I have to acknowledge its merits. The President can move much faster as a singular executive with classified information than can a massive body of representatives like the Congress. And with that many people in on it, there is bound to be some leaks that can be really detrimental and even dangerous to the war movement as a whole.
Think about it..
Very interesting observations. I'm sure your paper will be wonderful.
ReplyDeleteBeulah,
ReplyDeleteI’m afraid that I can’t be bland and supportive of your positions here.
Where in the Constitution do we give the President the authority to ignore Congress or to ignore the laws? Isn’t this why we set up a system of checks and balances? Isn’t it because we wanted to never have a king or emperor?
Isn’t that really what a President with unlimited power would be?
Congress is “the people’s house”. Although the President is also supposed to represent the people, Congress has a tighter grasp on what the people want. Each member of Congress represents a specific community and no matter what his/her personal feelings on a subject might be, that elected representative is supposed to represent his/her constituents.
The President is just one person and our founding fathers knew that these United States should never be put in the hands of any one individual.
We’ve had people in the past –just as we have now—that would rather see the control of the US put in the hands of a single person or group of people (most of whom are not held accountable to “the people”). They want to turn the Presidency into their own fiefdom and have unlimited and unquestioned control.
The Presidency of Bush-II is a prime example of this but even FDR and Lincoln abused the powers afforded to them by the Constitution.
With FDR and Lincoln, it was only because we had a Supreme Court that control over the President prevailed. Of course, FDR tried to add five more Supremes so he could guarantee that the Supreme Court would always be on his side. Bush didn’t have to worry, though. He already had a Supreme Court that helped put him into the White House and were sympathetic to the policies of their party.