![]() A supine Congress seems content to allow the executive to abrogate treaties, impose tariffs and import duties, often for frivolous reasons or to favor one American corporation or another. With the present administration, national security authorizes forays into immigration and naturalization, commerce with foreign nations, appropriation of funds and a host of other areas assigned to Congress by the Constitution. He has power to grant pardons for offenses, except in cases of impeachment, and "he shall receive Ambassadors and other public Ministers." He can recommend to the Congress for their consideration "such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient."īy identifying "enemies" and fomenting proxy wars, successive Democratic and Republican administrations have used "national security," a term that can mean anything and nothing, to augment the authority of the commander in chief. He is "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States." Reading Article II of the Constitution, I'm surprised by how little independent authority they allowed the Executive. ![]() For the first time since the Whigs whooped it up for "Tippecanoe and Tyler, too" in their 1840 convention, there was no platform committee to weigh the pros and cons of a stand on this or that issue, no draft of their conclusions to be submitted to the delegates for their approval or amendment. We saw an egregious example of how far this rot has spread in the action of the Republican National Convention. This trend has been evident for some time and is not limited to one political party. They want a strong leader to tell them what to think about national and international issues and they are happy that the leader's caprice be the only determining factor in what those policies should be. ![]() Sadly, a great many Americans today seem to have a servile mentality. Free people stand on their own two feet and demand their rights." I never forgot those words of a Virginian prominent in the Civil Rights movement who did not want to be identified as "a Black leader" by the media. ![]()
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