An Imperial Presidency Essay

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Recommended: The war in Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin resolution

An Imperial Presidency

Writers of the constitution intended for congress to be the most powerful branch of government. They invested in the president: the powers of the monarch, but subjected him to the democratic principles of accountability which was ensured by a complex system of parliamentary and judicial checks and balances. For over a century the US got along fine with a relatively weak president whose major role was simply to carry out the laws and policies made by congress, however, there has been erosion in this system.

Presidential power only started to grow after the 19th century when the US set out on its path to empire.

A great transformation of the president’s power came with Franklin …show more content…

Towards the end of Clintons second term, the imperial presidency was as free and as alarming as it has been at any time since the Vietnam War.

Now, with all this said the important question is to know how the current administration works, “Is President George w. Bush acting as an imperial president?” with the controversy on his first election and the horrific terrorist attack on September 11. Terrorism is a word that instils fear into hearts of many. Terrorism is another word for rebellion. During the tsarist regime in Russia, terrorism came in the form of anarchy and the secret police was put in the position of putting an end to it. Terrorism is a crime against humanity and as such should be treated as a criminal offence and should be dealt with by the police.

President W. Bush declaring war on terrorism without the approval of congress is unconstitutional and it is an abuse of power. The war in my opinion was infused with the spirit of seeking unilateral American dominance.

President Bush’s policies on foreign affairs are examples of his arrogance of power; telling President Yasser Arafat to step down …show more content…

US forces were already involved in Vietnam when Lyndon Johnson engineered the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution of 1964, and George Bush Senior agreed in a two-day Senate debate on US intervention in the Persian Gulf, but George W. Bush has surpassed his predecessors in the assumption of imperial powers--most obviously, perhaps, in his tendency to conflate America's war against terrorism with his own existential destiny. "I will not forget this wound to our country," he told the nation shortly after September 11. "I will not yield; I will not rest; I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people." In assuming this pivotal role, moreover, Bush has made it clear that he will allow no boundaries not even on his exercise of national power. The president made the arbitrary decision to designate as a foreign “enemy combatant” Some Americans are being held incommunicado in a military brig without due process of law and without charges... in suspect of being related to al-Qaeda and possessing a dirty bomb[2]. These people are being denied their

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