Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Congress...more powerful than the president?

The Founders, when designing our Constitution, were fearful of an executive that had too much power...they had just thrown off the chains of monarchy, and were fearful that by empowering a strong executive they would find themselves back where they started...however, the weakness of the Articles of Confederation manifested the need for stronger central government with an executive to enforce the laws passed by Congress...So they attempted to resolve this dichotomy by creating three branches of government with the legislative branch being the most powerful of the three....Yet, today their is some skepticism as to whether the legislative branch remains to be the most powerful institution in the United States Government...Your objective today is to explore the question "What makes the legislative branch so powerful?" by answering this question you will then proceed to answer the final question which is " Is Congress more powerful than the president of the United States?

You may use your textbook p. 157 and the following links to answer the question.

http://articles.mcall.com/2010-10-02/opinion/mc-letter-lampenfeld-constitution-che20101002_1_congress-supreme-court-checks-and-balances

http://www-student.unl.edu/cis/pols100w05/online_course/unit3/lsn07-tp01.html

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/can-president-be-too-strong

http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/teacher_lessons/3branches/5.htm
You must make one initial post and then a second evaluating the response of one of your peers. Post are graded on quality and whether you met the required number of posts.

22 comments:

  1. Congress is clearly still the most powerful branch of government because they pass the bills. They make the laws. They make the rules. Sure, a president can veto the bill, but then congress just needs a two thirds vote and it’s passed. Congress can impeach a president. I mean if you really think about it congress could change the country. Impeach the president, completely reform everything. Luckily that will never happen because they can’t agree on anything to save their lives so no worries there. But I agree that they are easily the most powerful branch, and it is because they make the rules.

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    1. I completely agree. We all focus on how the president is to blame, but realistically congress is to blame for most of the problems in America.

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    2. I agree, everyone looks at the President when something bad happens but in reality it was most likely Congress did it, Congress can over ride anything the President does or says, making them so much more powerful then the President.

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    3. The Nation of Islam would agree

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  2. Why is Congress so powerful? Because they can do what they want. They run this. They can overstep the president, and Supreme Court, and that's just how it's set up. They can remove both of them as well. And yes, congress is more powerful than the President. At least it should be.

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    1. I agree complety my good man. They control so much that its just evident that they have one of or if not the MAIN power in this country.

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  3. The Legislative branch is so powerful, because they decide if we go to war, and they also are the ones that spend the money. We always blame the president for the problems we have in this country,but realistically we need to be focusing on how congress is doing a terrible job. Although, there are certain areas where the president has more power like enforcing the laws, but overall congress has more power. The reason the president gets most of the blame is because, he is our spokesman for the country, and he is the one everybody starts blaming because he is the person we recognize the most.

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    1. Do you blame Congress Bruce?.. When something goes wrong, or the government tries to press something do YOU blame congress? Or our current POTUS.

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    2. You are correct, but congress isn't the most powerful just because they can declare war,and they decide what we do with our money. There is so much more to it. They controll the country.

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    3. I blamed the president before I read into it as much as I have today, but we all did so don't just point me out bruh.

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    4. I wasn't saying that those were the only powers they had, those were just two specific things I decided to write, because he told us we needed specific things to back up our argument.

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  4. Okay so congress has the most power. The president has power himself but if he can get impeached by congress at pretty much any given time then the president obviously doesn't have the most power. In fact, congress make and pass laws. Although, the president can indeed veto the bill, congress still pretty much have the power with that. i say that congress only needs 2/3 vote then it's passed. If congress is pretty much regulating and reforming how our country operates then no, I don't believe that the president could be the most powerful, congress is the most powerful.

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  5. The legislative branch is so powerful, because the Constitution gave it the power to do whatever is necessary to carry out its powers. Basically, the legislative branch is like the most powerful branch in the government because they can override whatever the president says or does. They are in charge of making laws and they can impeach justices or even the president.

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  6. the legislative branch is considered to be the most powerful , I agree with this statement because one of the articles stated that ONLY Congress can make laws, and can do so with or without the presidents consent , I also believe that congress has more power then the president because anything he suggests can be override my congress

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    1. You meant by...but that's a true statement. Everything he does could be veto. I believe that Congress was made the most powerful for a reason.

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    2. I definitely agree with bri , it's almost as if the president is just a spokesperson for the United States , and not as vital as congress

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  7. The President is just a spokes man, that is all he has been for years. If you don't see it that way them you are blind or extremely arrogant, the President just tells us what Congress is doing, there isn't a thing President can do that Congress can't take away. Congress declares war, Congress passes the laws and other bills, Congress has all the power, in the end they decide what to do, the President can veto but Congress can over ride it if they really want it. When something bad happens everyone looks at the President because they think he is the leader and the ultimate decider on things, when really its Congress, the President might have had nothing to do with it but still gets blamed for the it when stuff goes bad.

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  8. Legislative branch's main power is its control over the economy. They controlspending, taxing, as well as regulating commerce. Those are very big factors that influence how daily life will run within our nation. They also affect the debt so that is where the responsiblity comes in. They are more powerful than the president, basically being able to override almosteverything that he or she does.

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  9. What makes the legislative so powerful is things like the power to levy taxes and provide for the general welfare of the United States. They can also declare war which is big because it is a control of a persons life. Establishing laws is big because it has control of the people within he country. They have power over our national guard which is basically our protection.

    Congress is indeed more powerful than the president of the United States because congress can basically override anything that the president can do. Things like when a president tries to veto, but congress can easily override a veto. Another thing is that when the president tries to do things like declare war, congress has the last say in the decision. Basically the president makes suggestions and congress makes the decisions.

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  10. The U.S President originally supposed to be powerful because due to his ability to issue executive orders (Mr. Melendez). Congress has been powerful than the president for a while now because it was designed that way. Agreeing with Trenton, instead of the president controlling the country is more like the congress controlling. Due to that ability over the president congress is more powerful and has the power to veto the president, Barack Obama.

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    1. I agree with you that Congress has been powerful for a long time, but I disagree with you when you said that the President was supposed to be more powerful. After the Articles failed to restore order to our country, the founders didn't want another thing like England happening.

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  11. *What makes legislative branch so powerful??? The legislative branch has a big chunk of control over the economy which consist of spending, taxes, and regulating commerce. The legislative branch has the right to let congress influence others, but in particular it influences national policy. The taxes in the economy can be used for many things such as health. The legislative branch, people are capable of proposing laws to regulate how much money is being spent on the daily basis. In my opinion it may seem that the president might have the greatest power in the country but I personally believe that the Legislative branch has the greatest power because they ultimately have the right to do what they want for their country by regulating money, spending, and etc.

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