A history of presidential power
May. 13th, 2008 08:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nancylebovhttp://www.reason.com/news/show/126020.html
This one covers the expansion of presidential power and prestige from the beginning (when they were pretty small) till now.
I don't agree with everything in the article: I don't think it's awful for citizens to have a public venue to ask the candidates questions, nor for a President to have some interest in what happens to children. And I think the author wasn't fair to Obama. After saying that Obama is better than Clinton and McCain on civil liberties, he then says that Obama will presumably give in to the same temptations to expand power.
I'm dubious that much expansion of presidential power happens because the president is afraid that an overly demanding public will blame the president for everything that goes wrong.
Still, the history was interesting. I didn't know how small the presidency used to be nor had I thought about whether the intelligence services should be attached to the president.
Link thanks to The Agitator.
And awhile ago at Unqualified Offerings, there was the plausible idea that government power tends to increase because, while the three branches are somewhat balanced against each other, this isn't enough to protect the public from any of the three nibbling away against the public's freedom.
This one covers the expansion of presidential power and prestige from the beginning (when they were pretty small) till now.
I don't agree with everything in the article: I don't think it's awful for citizens to have a public venue to ask the candidates questions, nor for a President to have some interest in what happens to children. And I think the author wasn't fair to Obama. After saying that Obama is better than Clinton and McCain on civil liberties, he then says that Obama will presumably give in to the same temptations to expand power.
I'm dubious that much expansion of presidential power happens because the president is afraid that an overly demanding public will blame the president for everything that goes wrong.
Still, the history was interesting. I didn't know how small the presidency used to be nor had I thought about whether the intelligence services should be attached to the president.
Link thanks to The Agitator.
And awhile ago at Unqualified Offerings, there was the plausible idea that government power tends to increase because, while the three branches are somewhat balanced against each other, this isn't enough to protect the public from any of the three nibbling away against the public's freedom.
