Thursday, January 24, 2008

Comment on Excluded Wisdom and Transformational Moments

Considering the facts you described, I am interested in learning where does the effectiveness of our Constitution lie? If President Bush can bypass the congressional doctrines to declare war against other countries and if he can take wiretapping measure to record people's conversations or comments, where do such actions lead us? I think such obstruction of power throws us back in the old English age to some extent when kings could overthrow parliamentary rules whenever they wanted to. What do you think? If Hillary and Obama are already busy attacking or criticizing each other rather than focusing on the real issues, what does it say about our future? I see less hope for any big changes. But again, I am trying to remain optimistic; hopefully, things will change for better. I would very much assume whoever wins the election will concentrate on abiding by the constitutional laws after all! And as far as the idea of forming a one party state is concerned, I hope that will happen too!

1 comment:

Fugitive Professor said...

This is an old debate. Hamilton and Madison split on the issue of executive power on several occasions in the 1790s, most famously over the Jay Treaty. Writing under pseudonyms (of course!), Madison as "Helvidius" and Hamilton as "Pacificus", they debated whether the executive could unilaterally issue proclamations that would determine foreign policy. Famously, Madison accused Hamilton of advocating for an English-style monarchical government.

There is a post about this subject, executive power and Hamiltonianism in its modern forms, from December I think. The "executive power" tag should locate it if you are interested.