Skip to main content

Do you think a dominant presidency, a dominant Congress, or a balanced relationship between the two is preferable? Which do you find preferable, in...

While I cannot answer the question (which is obviously very complex) in full in this limited space, I can give you a number of ideas. First, the question requires that you argue for a balanced government or a situation where either the executive branch or Congress is preeminent. First, you will have to decide which to argue for, which is of course based on your personal opinion. You will then need to go further, pointing out the strengths and weaknesses of your position. So I will highlight some historical examples of the strengths and weaknesses of some of the scenarios for which you might argue. 


Historically, a stronger executive branch emerges in times of extreme crisis, when quick decision-making was necessary. For example, during the Great Depression and World War II, Franklin Roosevelt exercised unprecedented power to deal with these successive challenges, which posed enormous and profound threats to the nation. In so doing, he permanently enlarged the executive branch, but his presidency also created the specter of abuse of presidential power, as when he attempted to enlarge the Supreme Court with justices friendly to his initiatives and when he ordered the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. Other examples of the abuses that can occur when the powers of the presidency go too far are the Watergate and Iran-Contra scandals during the Nixon and Reagan presidencies, respectively. 


Arguments for a stronger Congress might focus in particular on the ability to wage war. Since World War II, no Congress has declared war, but a series of Presidents have nonetheless used their powers as commander-in-chief to wage war in such countries as Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Many argue Congress should be more sparing in delegating this power to the President (by denying funding). On the other hand, many decry the ability of Congress, especially the Senate, to obstruct the President, as has been the case during much of the Obama administration. The current refusal of the Senate to hear the nomination of Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court is an example of this. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Is there a word/phrase for "unperformant"?

As a software engineer, I need to sometimes describe a piece of code as something that lacks performance or was not written with performance in mind. Example: This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. Based on my Google searches, this isn't a real word. What is the correct way to describe this? EDIT My usage of "performance" here is in regard to speed and efficiency. For example, the better the performance of code the faster the application runs. My question and example target the negative definition, which is in reference to preventing inefficient coding practices. Answer This kind of coding style leads to unmaintainable and unperformant code. In my opinion, reads more easily as: This coding style leads to unmaintainable and poorly performing code. The key to well-written documentation and reports lies in ease of understanding. Adding poorly understood words such as performant decreases that ease. In addressing the use of such a poorly ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A man has a garden measuring 84 meters by 56 meters. He divides it into the minimum number of square plots. What is the length of the square plots?

We wish to divide this man's garden into the minimum number of square plots possible. A square has all four sides with the same length.Our garden is a rectangle, so the answer is clearly not 1 square plot. If we choose the wrong length for our squares, we may end up with missing holes or we may not be able to fit our squares inside the garden. So we have 84 meters in one direction and 56 meters in the other direction. When we start dividing the garden in square plots, we are "filling" those lengths in their respective directions. At each direction, there must be an integer number of squares (otherwise, we get holes or we leave the garden), so that all the square plots fill up the garden nicely. Thus, our job here is to find the greatest common divisor of 84 and 56. For this, we prime factor both of them: `56 = 2*2*2*7` `84 = 2*2*3*7` We can see that the prime factors and multiplicities in common are `2*2*7 = 28` . This is the desired length of the square plots. If you wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

What warning does Chuchundra issue to Rikki?

Chuchundra, the sniveling, fearful muskrat who creeps around walls because he is too terrified to go into the center of a room, meets Rikki in the middle of the night. He insults Rikki by begging him not to kill him. He then insults him by suggesting that Nag might mistake Chuchundra for Rikki. He says, "Those who kill snakes get killed by snakes."  He issues this warning to Rikki not to help keep Rikki safe but as a way of explaining why Rikki's presence gives him, Chuchundra, more reason to fear.  Chuchundra starts to tell Rikki what Chua the rat told him--but breaks it off when he realizes he might be overheard by Nag. He says, "Nag is everywhere, Rikki-Tikki." Rikki threatens to bite Chuchundra to get him to talk. Even then, Chuchundra won't overtly reveal any information. But he does say, "Can't you hear, Rikki-Tikki?" This is enough of a clue for the clever mongoose. He listens carefully and can just make out the "faintest scratch-s...
Post a Comment
Read more