Transcript Policy Proposal & Contentions

John Edwards '08: "Health Care“
http://www.factcheck.org/video/YouTube_-_John_Edwards_-_quotHealth_Carequot_Television_Ad_-_Iowa_WMV.wmv
Edwards: When I'm president, I'm going to say to members of
Congress and members of my administration, including my Cabinet,
"I'm glad that you have health care coverage and that your family has
health care coverage. But if you don't pass universal health care by July
2009 - six months - I'm going to use my power as president to take
your health care away from you."
Edwards: There's no excuse for politicians in Washington having
health care when you don't have health care.
I'm John Edwards and I approve this message.
The American Presidency
THERE is an idea, which is not without its advocates, that a vigorous
executive is inconsistent with the genius of republican government. The
enlightened well-wishers to this species of government must at least hope
that the supposition is destitute of foundation; since they can never admit its
truth, without at the same time admitting the condemnation of their own
principles.
Energy in the executive is a leading character in the definition of good
government. It is essential to the protection of the community against
foreign attacks; it is not less essential to the steady administration of the
laws; to the protection of property against those irregular and high-handed
combinations which sometimes interrupt the ordinary course of justice; to
the security of liberty against the enterprises and assaults of ambition, of
faction, and of anarchy. . . .
A feeble executive implies a feeble execution of the government. A feeble
execution is but another phrase for a bad execution; and a government ill
executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad
government.
--Alexander Hamilton, “Federalist #70”
Hamilton’s Supporters
• Eric A. Posner: “Although the Constitution gave some significant powers to
Congress, including the power to appropriate funds and to declare war, Hamilton’s
formulation ensured that the president had dominant authority over foreign affairs.”
• John Yoo: “The White House has declared that the Constitution allows the
president to sidestep laws that invade his executive authority.” He condemns critics
“who seem to believe that the Constitution created a system of judicial or
congressional supremacy.”
Foreign Policy Powers
under the Constitution:
The Exception to Congressional
Dominance?
Foreign Policy Powers under the Constitution
President:
1. Commander in Chief
2. commission all officers
3. receive ambassadors
President and Senate:
1. appoint ambassadors
2. make treaties
Congress (conditional veto):
1. impose duties… to provide for the
common defense
2. regulate commerce with foreign
nations
3. establish a rule of naturalization
4. regulate the value of foreign coin
6.
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14.
define & punish piracies &
felonies committed on the high
seas & offenses against the Law of
Nations
declare war, grant letters of
marque & reprisal, & make rules
concerning captures
raise & support armies
provide & maintain a navy
make rules for armed forces
provide for calling forth the militia
to repel invasions
prescribe training of militia
exercise exclusive jurisdiction
over forts, arsenals, etc.
make all laws which shall be
necessary and proper
http://pollkatz.homestead.com/files/approval-long_files/zzzBUSHINDEX_21801_image001.gif
The Imperial Presidency
by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
Take Home Lessons
• Growth of presidential power has been fairly
gradual, and most has been concentrated in
the areas of military and foreign affairs.
– George W. Bush on Iraq & Social Security
• Presidential power grows in times of crisis
and shrinks in time of calm.
• But it always grows more than it shrinks.
The Imperial Presidency
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Control over Information
Executive Privilege
Commander-in-Chief
Mexican War
Civil War
Emancipation Proclamation
Andrew Johnson Impeachment
The Imperial Presidency
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Spanish American War
World War I
Treaty of Versailles
League of Nations
Permanent Crisis
Great Depression
World War II
Cold War Cult of the Presidency
The Revolutionary Presidency
of Richard Nixon
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Policy Impoundment
Selective Enforcement
Legislation by Executive Order
Pocket Veto
Perpetual and Universal Privilege
Police Powers of National Government
War Powers Act
Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act
Secret Wars in Laos and Cambodia
Watergate
Threatened Impeachment & Nixon Resignation
Growth of Presidential Power:
Technology & the Constitution
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The Framers’ fear of unified power.
Secrecy and dispatch.
One voice.
Chief bureaucrat.
Presidential Preference and Position
on the Electoral College
Politics 262
November 2004
Actual & (Expected) Values
Pro-EC
Anti-EC
Pro Bush
7
(2.67)
1
(5.33)
8
Pro Kerry
0
(4.33)
13
(8.67)
13
7
14
21
Chi-square = 17.06. Probability that Presidential Preference and
Position on Electoral College are unrelated is less than 0.001%.
Hypotheses?
Hypotheses?
• Leaving the Electoral College alone is the
“conservative” thing to do.
• The Electoral College is justified by its
results, and it gave us President Bush.
Electoral College Biases
Electoral College Biases
• Small sates have a mathematical overrepresentation because they get at least three
electoral votes regardless of how few people live
there.
• States with low voter turnout get protected in
terms of influence because the electoral college
makes voter turnout irrelevant.
• States (especially large states) where either
candidate might win become the key battlegrounds
and gain disproportionate influence as both sides
pour in massive resources.
Electoral College Biases
• The system of representation in the contingency procedure
is a huge departure from the currently accepted principle of
one-person-one vote.
• For what it's worth, a different set of states are
disproportionately powerful in the nomination phase of the
presidential campaign.
Take Home Lesson
Source: http://theelectoralcollegesucks.com/
Mr. Maps
Mark Newman, Department of Physics and
Center for the Study of Complex Systems,
University of Michigan
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~mejn/election/
Social Welfare Policy
• It reflects our political culture: individual self-reliance
trumps equality.
• It reflects our political parties: the policies of each party
reflect the interests of the core constituencies they
represent.
• It reflects the strength of business interest groups: most
welfare programs pay private businesses to service the
poor rather than giving money to the poor or having
government provide the services directly.
• It reflects the general distribution of power in society:
vastly more welfare dollars actually flow to the nonpoor than to the poor.