Weekly Standard: Bush has “near dictatorial power” | Glenn Greenwald - Salon

[groovychk]

Originally published at Twixel.net. You can comment here or there.

Glenn Greenwald - Salon
What the actual Americans who founded the country feared (as opposed to “hoped for and craved”) was that the President would wield “near dictatorial power.” Anyone with doubts should simply read Article II — defining the powers of the President — and see how limited those powers are. Even the glorious sounding power of “Commander-in-Chief” is, as Scalia noted, nothing more than the power, when Congress decides to fund a military and when it authorizes the use of military force, to act as top General directing troop movements and the like. In all other respects, those powers are checked, regulated and limited by the people through their Congress.

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This is a great article - Please read it and its links. It helps to sum up a lot of the scary differences between the Republicans and pretty much everyone else with regards to Presidential power.
Make sure to read the Federalist Paper links as well. Hamilton’s language can be a bit thick but his writings provide important insight into the thinking behind the Constitution.

http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa69.htm
http://www.constitution.org/fed/federa70.htm
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/article02/

Comments

[deviantgm.livejournal.com]

Let's be fair. The Democrats, the Green Party, and almost every other party (with a few exceptions) gives the President of the U.S. more power than was ever intended. We don't even want to delve into the ideas of the founders on voting, congressional limitation, and state's rights. Talk about straying from intent!

[groovychk.livejournal.com]

To be fair - you're right. But I'm poking at the current administration since they've been committing the most egregious offenses lately.