Presidential Power

            As the face of this country, the President receives all the criticism when things are going bad and when they are going good, other politicians tend to point their fingers at themselves to collect the praise for success.  These politicians know it’s easy to place blame on the person who leads this country and manipulate the voters into thinking the President has all the power. But does he really have more control than the Constitution originally stated. Since he still has to go through Congress for most issues and can’t just do anything he wants without worrying about the consequences, I will argue that our founding fathers may see additional authority with the President but will also be able to see that this does not put the Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances at risk.

            The founding fathers would be comfortable with the current Presidential Powers because the Congress still holds a lot of power when it comes to what the President can and cannot do. Article I of the constitution is laid out to provide plenty of power to the congress. They have the ability to declare war, lay and collect taxes and, being in the legislative branch, create laws. They have a say in nearly everything the President does and they are elected by the people, not the President himself.

Although Executive Orders are a benefit for the President, if he abuses his power with them they will be examined and questioned by the Supreme Court and serious consequences could follow. Even though the President doesn’t have to run them by Congress, this ability allows the President to make laws in uncommon circumstances when there isn’t time to let people debate it. In the past, Executive orders have been used in time of war and stressful moments in this countries’ history.

Lastly, I believe the founding fathers will approve of the President’s power because everything in the Constitution is still the most vital part of our government. It is necessary that every member of every level of government follows the words of this document to ensure the power of the people. Although it may not seem like it, I still believe that the people of this country are in control. We just have a tendency to listen to what all the other politicians are saying about the power of the President.

From these previous examples, I personally don’t feel the President is too powerful and I think the founding fathers would think the same.