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Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

No, I am not talking about Al Gore's movie. I am talking about the fact that our current President believes he can set aside any law passed by Congress that he believes is unconstitutional. Of everything he has done since being in office, I think this is the scariest. It basically implies that he doesn't need the Congress. How it is supposed to work is that Congress makes the laws, the Courts interpret their constitutionality, and the President ensures their enforcement. This is called separation of powers. The framers created this system so that no single branch could take too much power. This is a foundation of our democracy and it terrifies me to see it happening.

Thank fully, people are standing up to him. My only hope is that they are successful. The belief that the Presidency is more important than the other branches and has more power is something I feel we need to move away from. Our Constitution was not put together haphazardly. Everything in there was put in its place for a reason. Art. I, the first and most comprehensive section of the Constitution talks about the legislature and gives them their powers. Art. II is much shorter and talks about the President's limited powers. Art. III is also relatively short and talks about the power of the Courts. If any conclusion can be drawn from the structure of the Constitution it is that the Legislative Branch has the most power but is still limited by powers given to it in the Constitution. The Executive Branch is not the superior branch. It is a dangerous idea to entertain and should be squashed as soon as possible or we endanger our freedoms even more than they have been in the past.

Update: Someone who can articulate the President's actions far better than I.