Monday, August 9, 2010

Power Grab

Granted Presidential Powers
In case you were wondering, the President does have a detailed job description. It is clearly spelled-out in the Constitution. The duties of the President are as follows:

1. Leader of over 360 million Americans.
2. Commander over a military force to protect America.
3. Chief Executive Officer of the Executive Branch of the government.
4. The chief diplomat in handling foreign relations.
5. The chief architect for needed legislation.
6. The conscience in granting pardons.

One of the Executive Powers is to be able to create the Presidential Cabinet. These are the heads of the various departments of the government. Their duties are to administer the affairs of major departments and to collectively serve as an advisory council to the President. There are 13 posts which are given the title of "Secretary." They are as follows:

  • Department of State
  • Department of the Treasury
  • Department of War
  • Department of Justice
  • Department of the Interior
  • Department of Health and Human Services
  • Department of Commerce
  • Department of Labor
  • Department of Agriculture
  • Department of Housing and Urban Services
  • Department of Transportation
  • Department of Energy
  • Department of Education
Note:There is NO MENTION OF PRESIDENTIAL CZARS in the Constitution. They do not exist.

Unfortunately, practically all of the "expanded" powers of the President over the last 200 years have been acquired without amendments. In other words, grabbed over time. In fact, the Executive branch has now acquired huge amounts of discretionary powers way beyond what the Founders ever intended. This extravagant expansion of power was done with the encouragement of Congress along with the consent of the Supreme Court.

It's becoming abundantly clear that this administration thinks that they can create their own legislation without the need to interact with Congress at all. This has to be stopped because it is unlawful and exceeds the powers originally granted. Just because they do it doesn't mean that they can or should.

The good news is that the American people can use the Constitution to dismantle this usurpation of power in a peaceful way. Number one, we can all vote someone into power who is willing to recognize this problem and to do something about it. Number two, the states can call for a contention under Article V to provide whatever amendments are necessary to bring the matter back under control. This maybe what will be required to fix today's problem.

Action To Take
Propose a Constitutional Convention to diminish the excessive powers taken by the Executive branch.

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