Has the Imperial Presidency Arrived?
I’ve always enjoyed movies and TV shows about parallel universes, where the protagonists somehow enter another world that looks just like the real one but is fundamentally different and usually quite twisted. Perhaps my favorite of the genre is The Man in The High Castle, where the alternative universe is one in which the Nazis triumphed in World War II. It’s a great way to explore ideas and think about history.
Along those lines, let’s say some weird vortex blows in from the, er, Gulf of America and we suddenly find that instead of losing the election, Kamala Harris won a solid victory. Democrats control both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court has a progressive majority. We also find that the Democratic base has a cult-like commitment to the former vice president and the media are acting like lapdogs. It’s preposterous (except for the media part), but we’re talking science fiction.
Instead of governing in the typical misguided way that every presidential administration has operated in the post-war era, President Harris decides to echo the approach of Real World President Donald Trump and govern by edict. Spare me the “whataboutism.” Yes, I know that all presidents have abused their executive-order authority, have defied the Constitution’s clear words, and have used the administrative state to advance some dubious ends.
But there’s little question that Trump is taking the concept of the imperial presidency to its apogee. The term refers to the vast expansion of presidential authority—and the process whereby a president uses supposed national-security emergencies to justify far-reaching policies that evade the scrutiny of Congress and the courts. Everyone has done it. George W. Bush used the War on Terror to justify everything. Barack Obama used the financial crisis as an excuse.
But the situation is more perilous in our current dystopian world. First, Trump is more brazen than anyone since FDR in exerting presidential muscle. Second, some in the Trump orbit suggest the courts have no check on the executive branch. Third, the self-appointed defenders of the Constitution (conservatives) no longer are complaining about these power grabs. In the old days (before January 20), they would have publicly decried the actions of elected dictators.
The separation of powers embodies the essence of our Constitution. “The Framers’ experience with the British monarchy informed their belief that concentrating distinct governmental powers in a single entity would subject the nation’s people to arbitrary and oppressive go
Article from Reason.com
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