The Pros And Cons Of Presidential Power

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Many people believe that the president has the ultimate power to do whatever he or she wants. Though that may be somewhat true, there are a lot of limitations that the president can and cannot do. I know for one, the president is able to declare war. Though, there obviously has to be a good reason for him or her to declare something like that. The Constitution was written over 200 years ago. The people that wrote up the Constitution never knew that the U.S. would become a rich country having developed many new form of technology. This includes nuclear weapons, rockets, computers, and television. With the new technology, especially nuclear weapons, this means that someone needs to have the ultimate power over them. This is where the president …show more content…
This power is still honored today. Some discussions, such as possible tax cuts, are taking place not only in both house, but as well as the executive branch. The impeachment of power is the authority to charge the president with wrongdoing. This means that a majority vote can impeach an elected official. The president won’t be so powerful after that happens. In the Senate, major presidential appointments must be confirmed by them. The Senate offers what is called “Advice and Consent”, which is a majority vote on the appointments of federal judges, ambassadors, and Cabinet positions. Also treaties with other nations must be approved by a two-thirds vote by the Senate. This is an illustration of checks and balances and has served a very important restriction to foreign powers to the president. The Supreme Court has the power of judicial review, which means that it can overturn laws it rules to be unconstitutional. Neither the president nor Congress has any power to override a Supreme Court decision. The system of checks and balances often results in dramatic clashes between the three branches of government. This includes the Supreme Courts reversals of major laws being passed by Congress. The president doesn’t really have much say in laws. He or she is only the enforcer of them. He or she doesn’t have the power to make them. They can veto them however, but can be overridden as mentioned …show more content…
My thoughts about our government has not been very pleasant. And there are very good reasons for that. The same goes for some of our presidents that we have had over the past few years. After reading about all of the things that the president is able to do, I feel that he or she doesn’t really have that much power. Everything that happens has to either go through the Senate or Congress. I think that this is a good thing because like I said before, with a lot of power, it can all go to your head. If a president has all the power in the world to make laws, send out nuclear weapons, veto everything, etc., I believe that our world would have ended a long time ago. Having people below the president giving feedback and suggestions on what is constitutional and what is not gives our nation another opportunity of survival. Before I even started taking this government class, I knew only about the president being able to declare war. I never knew that within the Constitution, it states that Congress were the only ones allowed to declare war. This goes to show that the president can abuse his or her powers and change what the Constitution believes it right. That’s why they called it checks and balances. I hate to bring it up, but I feel it is necessary because of this upcoming election. This is going to be my first time being able to vote for a new president and I feel that whoever wins, our country isn’t
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