It's that time again. As is the case every year, the American public has decreed that Feb. 21st is a day of reflection. Schoolchildren play in the streets, banks lock their doors and federal employees return to their families all so that we can ponder in quiet deference the grandeur, the majesty, the apex of our nation’s highest ideals – the American presidency.
Originally created to solely commemorate George Washington, the holiday has grown since then and become a celebration of all things presidential, used to honor all men who’ve sat at the resolute desk on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. However, I would argue that instead of rewatching “The American President” or reading an Arthur Schlesinger book, we should take this time to reflect on the unimpeded growth of the executive branch, fostering a culture of unaccountability, secrecy and flagrant criminality that grew as the American empire expanded.
Currently, the president presides over a fleet of over 11,000 drones which they can use to deploy against real or perceived overseas enemies without Congressional authorization and outside the confines of international law. Four successive presidents have done so, often with disastrous results.
New York Times reporter Azmat Khan documented thousands of civilian deaths across the Middle East caused by a program once considered the “cleanest” method of war. Thirty-nine prisoners still languish in Guantanamo Bay, detained – indefinitely, without trial or charges – in a prison camp whose name is synonymous with abuse and torture. Established by President George W. Bush in 2002, Obama, Trump, and Biden each did their part to keep the facility open.
The president oversees a national security state that regularly engages in extrajudicial activities overseas and violates thecivil liberties of citizens at home, all while scoffing at attempts toward greater oversight. Presidents frequently abuse doctrines like executive privilege and pardon power, using them as justification for awarding cronies and shielding the federal government from outside scrutiny.
Nothing I just described to you is a modern phenomenon. From the early 20th century onward, when the United States began taking territory and staking its claim as a global power, it became obvious that old rules of presidential power could no longer apply. The checks and balances system works exquisitely when you’re a burgeoning nation, still grasping for legitimacy, and too distracted by internal affairs to worry about the world stage. But as your borders grow – first Alaska, then Hawaii, with Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines following soon after – although the latter would gain its independence – so too do our ambitions.
Without a strong leader, and an equally unshakable military apparatus, the newly formed Pax Americana would collapse. If the United States was going to, as Mark Twain said, refurbish its flag, paint it black, with the “stars replaced by the skull and cross-bones,” its ship would be the most fearsome, and its captain, unimaginably powerful. So, the imperial presidency began, and grew in inches and millimeters with every passing generation.
President Teddy Roosevelt threw his weight around Panama, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. President Woodrow Wilson created the Espionage and Sedition Acts to silence dissenters during World War One. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed 3,721 Executive Orders, ranging from establishing federal agencies to interning Japanese Americans. Finally, President Harry Truman enacted the National Security Act of 1947, creating the CIA, expanding the powers of the FBI, and laying the groundwork for the foreign intervention and domestic meddling that would come afterward.
Which brings us to today – the United States can no longer afford trillion-dollar military adventures, an endlessly byzantine intelligence service, or a White House allergic to self-reflection. Billions have been redirected to national defense, which could be used to fix our crumbling infrastructure or buy better textbooks for our schools, for example.
As empires overextend themselves, they become harder to maintain and more susceptible to corruption, competent administrators replaced by a revolving door of opportunistic contractors and mercenaries. Emphasis upon militarization causes critical institutions to rot, and public distrust of power structures to grow. Law enforcement begins to reflect their military counterparts. Communities become war zones, their populations viewed as enemy combatants.
We’ve sat idly by as this evolution took place, content in the knowledge that its most detrimental results would be most harshly felt among people we rarely see – the impoverished, neglected and uncared for.
But as authoritarian tendencies become more noticeable in American public life, we should begin to realize how unwieldy the powers vested in the president’s office actually are. Eventually, someone will assume office intent on turning these powers away from the outside world and toward their internal rivals.
Countless norms have been broken and traditions subverted in the past five years. Rather than waiting for an American Caesar, we should do everything in our power to prevent them from attaining more power. That process begins with criticizing executive authority and putting an end to the imperial presidency, for good.
"Opinion" - Google News
February 22, 2022 at 02:45AM
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Opinion | On President's Day, question presidential powers - The News Record
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