Thank God for the Founding Fathers
Last year I wrote that I wasn’t afraid of Donald Trump, mainly because I didn’t think he was going to be the nominee. I was wrong. Not about being afraid of Trump, but about whether he’s going to be our nominee. I think that, today, barring some kind of miracle, Donald Trump is going to be the Republican nominee. But I still don’t think we have anything to be afraid of.
And for that, we can thank God for the founding fathers.
They saw this coming. Back in the 1780s, the framers of our Constitution had just fought and won a war against an hereditary monarch, one whom they viewed as a tyrannical usurper of their rights and freedoms. The specter of creating an all powerful executive that could become the equivalent of the crowned heads of Europe here in America haunted the halls of the Continental Congresses and the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. It was such a concern that the Articles of Confederation, our first American governmental compact, didn’t even have an executive branch. When that proved unworkable, the framers envisioned the modern Presidency and created the Article II executive branch in our Constitution. It was designed to provide strong leadership without the dangers of unlimited power in the hands of a despot.
James Madison and Alexander Hamilton spent considerable time shooting down the critics of the Constitution who claimed that the President was merely little more than an elected King. In Federalist 67 Hamilton characterized those attacks as “calculating upon the aversion of the people to monarchy, they have endeavored to enlist all their jealousies and apprehensions in opposition to the intended President of the United States; not merely as the embryo, but as the full-grown progeny, of that detested parent.” The framers knew full well going into the ratification debates the fear the people would have of an out-of-control President.
That’s why they crafted Article II in such a way as to give little actual firm power to the President of the United States. This was part of the overall scheme of government, as Madison noted in Federalist 47, when he said “[t]he accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” This separation of powers doctrine ensured that each branch of government overlapped, balanced and checked the others, and did so in such a way that the people could monitor government and what it was doing.
Those who are concerned about what will happen to America if Donald Trump is elected President need only have faith in the founding vision of our learned ancestors, who took into account the possibility that a man with tyrannical ambitions could someday win the Chief Magistracy.
Almost every power the President wields is checked by Congress or the courts. His most powerful tool, the appointment power, is checked by the Senate’s advise and consent role. He cannot declare war, even if he is Commander-in-Chief, and Congress has the power to regulate the Army and Navy, confirm officers and appropriate money for defense. His veto power – unlike that of many Revolutionary period Governors – is qualified, not absolute. Congress can override it if they choose. The treaty power is likewise checked by the Senate. In all, Article II is only four sections long, and only one section, 223 words, discusses the powers of the President. And with the rise of the doctrine of judicial review, the Courts can restrain the executive when it exceeds its proper bounds.
Americans have a collective belief, thanks to the bad behavior of some of our Presidents, that Presidential power is significant and all encompassing. The President has the house, the limo, the airplane, the guys with guns surrounding him. It’s easy to think the Presidency is all powerful because that’s the image many Presidents have tried to cultivate. But the truth remains that the Presidency isn’t all powerful. It never has been. For the most part, Presidents have little direct power, and tend to only be as successful as their ability to wield influence over Congress is successful. For Trump to do much of what he wants to do – from taxes to building his wall – he’s going to need Congress and that means he’s going to have to make deals and tone down his rhetoric. Senators serve for terms longer than his and can buck him without real fear. Many in the House will spend their careers in Washington far longer than the maximum eight years any president can serve. Congress has no reason to simply roll over and give into the President, even a President “I Make Deals, OK?” himself.
As for foreign policy, we’ve had to deal with idiocy from Putin, Chavez, and plenty of other world leaders who have been as vitriolic or more than Trump, and we’ve not perished in a nuclear apocalypse yet. I doubt sincerely that most Europeans will think us more crazy for electing Donald Trump than they did for reelecting George W. Bush, honestly.
I wrote in my last article that perhaps I was naive in believing the American people make good decisions. And I probably am, given that Trump is poised to win the Republican nomination and likely the White House, which I still think is a bad idea. But I am not naive in putting my faith in the founding fathers, whose system of government has withstood far greater threats, both internal and external, than a modern day P.T. Barnum running for President. If America can withstand the threats posed by a George, a Davis, a Wilhelm, a Hitler or a Stalin, we can withstand that of a Trump.
The Constitution was written to deal exactly with this kind of situation. If you can’t put your faith in your fellow voter, put your faith in it. Don’t be afraid of Donald Trump. The country is stronger than any one man, even the President.
