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Bush Administration Caused a Surge in Executive Powers Mary Benoit The first three Articles in the U.S. Constitution define the powers granted to each branch of government. The writers of the Constitution even numbered each branch in order of its importance, or rather, by how much power each branch holds. Any person can pick up a copy of the Constitution and find that Article I defines the powers held by the most powerful branch of government, the legislative branch (Congress). Next is Article II, which defines the powers held by the Executive branch (the President). And finally, Article III defines the powers of Judicial branch (the Supreme Court). As previously stated, each branch of government holds certain powers that should serve as a guideline to what each branch can or cannot do. These powers are also known as enumerated powers. In our American Constitutional Republic, government should not be able to do anything that is not defined in the enumerated powers, which can be found by reading through Articles I through III in the U.S. Constitution. We strongly encourage every American to read the Constitution, but for the sake of utility, the enumerated powers include: Legislative:
Judicial:
In recent years there has been a shift in the balance of power that has traditionally defined how our nation operates on the federal level. In the December 17, 2007 issue of CQ Weekly, a Capital Hill news source published by Congressional Quarterly, staff member David Nather wrote: "For the past seven years, George W. Bush has expanded presidential power in ways that no one could have predicted when he took office." The article, titled "New Handshake, Same Grip," further indicated that President Bush, as well as Vice President Dick Cheney, view their overstepping of executive powers as a sort of "badge of honor," earned through providing security to the American people. What kind of Executive branch abuses took place over the course of the Bush presidency, one may ask? Mr. Nather lists several examples, including the implementation of a secret warrantless surveillance program, authorization of military tribunals to try suspected terrorists, refusal to answer to Congress, even with a congressional subpoena, and issuing signing statements after legislation is signed into law, and declaring some provisions optional. Each example listed above is a violation of the president's authority and a usurpation of what is constitutionally a legislative power. But can America expect a change or a shift in the Executive powers with the election of a new president in November of 2008? Generally speaking, the answer is no! Why? One obvious answer is that if a person is in a powerful position on any level, that person will try to maintain and gain as much power as possible. It is for that reason alone that our Founding Fathers instituted a government with a clearly defined separation of powers. Evidence of this can be found in John Madison's excellent Federalist #47 where he defends the importance of the separation of federal powers:
Is today's expansion of executive branch power a classic example of history repeating itself? After all, was it not an usurpation of powers by England that the colonists opposed which sparked the War for Independence? Luckily for us, a workable system is already is in place to safeguard Americans from falling victim to a government with seemingly endless powers. It is called the Constitution of the United States of America! Sadly, the nation has been lax in adhering to this document and has allowed not only the president to gain too much power, but has allowed congress to abdicate theirs. The only way to reverse this shift in power to the Executive branch is to elect a president who would be the least likely to advance executive control, and to elect members of Congress who would not allow such usurpations to take place in the event the new administration tried. This means that the American people need to wake up, read the Constitution, and hold elected officials accountable for allowing the executive branch to become far more powerful than what was intended by the Founders of this nation.
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