Too Much vs. Too Little

Let’s ponder a question…

Which would be better, for a president to have too much power, or too little?

If a president were to acquire too much power, all sorts of words would come to mind; dictatorship, communism, public education. But, considering our democracy and the way the leadership of this country comes into power, one would expect that popular majority would find a person who is intelligent and American. But mostly American.

Therefore, a president with too much power would, optimistically, be doing so in best regard to his constituents, the general population. In history, this can be seen in Thomas Jefferson’s presidency when he purchased the Louisiana Territory. Although he knew this was technically outside of his jurisdiction, Jefferson knew that the American people would thank him later.

Thank you, Thomas Jefferson. What would we have done without the great state shaped like a boot; home of gumbo, alligators and excellent jazz music?

Conversely, what would we do with a president who has too little power?

Realize that I’m not talking about wimpy presidents who choose to be inactive on purpose. I’m talking about a president who had power taken from the office.

For example, the line-item veto, presidential victory in the Clinton years, that takes power from the legislature, was later ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Granted, this was never a constitutional power to begin with, so it’s not really a right of the executive in the first place.

I think it would be difficult for the Executive to become less powerful than Consitutionally intended, however the Founders and Framers left room for it to expand with the complexity of government and the size of our country.

With that being said, I think the Anti-Obamacrats are worried that our Dear Leader will go off the deep end in the power pool, without realizing that the expansion of executive power is a slow process. Four years will probably not be enough, but eight might.

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