Armando Avila
Professor Dr. Xiao
Political Science 301 US Government
16 November 2014
Presidency and Congress
To this day, the president of the United States is among one of the most powerful people in the world. They derive their official authority from four sources, which are: explicit powers, chief executive, head of the state, and commander in chief of the armed forces. After reading chapters 10 and 11 of our textbook, Understanding American Government by Susan Welch and John Gruhl, it has become clear why the president is also the dominant force in foreign policy making. Several of the advantages they have include having a monopoly of information of the intelligence agencies, being able to keep information a secret, and revealing as …show more content…
Not only that, but Congress has never been a cross section between the American population. White non-Hispanic males, who make up about one-third of the total population held about sixty-four percent of the seats in the House of Representatives and seventy-nine percent of the seats of the Senate in 2010. Women, who make up fifty-one percent of the nation’s population, are the most underrepresented demographic group with only eighteen percent of the House membership. Without diversity, how will people’s opinion be considered when it comes to foreign policy? It is self-evident that Caucasian males will have a divergent view to foreign policies then citizens with different backgrounds. Congress is also not representative of the range of religious views among the general public. Seventeen percent of the population claims “other” or no religious affiliation, but just one percent of congressional members claim no affiliation and only two percent practice religions other than Christianity and Judaism. In addition to the poor diversification, Congress does not honor its own budget resolutions that establish the amount of spending each year. Congress outspends the dollar limit that it sets. These are all conditions we must take into consideration when composing foreign policy …show more content…
In contrast to the Congress, the president single handedly has abounding amounts of responsibilities and power to do as what 535 people can do and even more. Although Congress still conducts ways to take part in foreign policy, the president will always have that final saying. As commander chief, The Founders realized that use of military is occasionally necessary in the conduct of foreign policy. By making the president the “first general,” they made it clear that the president can countermand the order of any officer. During President Truman’s presidency, he had to make several military decisions. Without his consent the army could not have dropped hydrogen bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During the Korean War, Truman also decided to take General Douglas MacArthur’s spot, and ending his military career, when he tried to expand the conflict into a full-scale war with China. With doing so Truman was able to end racial segregation in the armed forces. It all differentiated with each president. President Clinton, for example, could have used the same authority as Truman to end discrimination against gays in the military, but refused to do
Professor Dr. Xiao
Political Science 301 US Government
16 November 2014
Presidency and Congress
To this day, the president of the United States is among one of the most powerful people in the world. They derive their official authority from four sources, which are: explicit powers, chief executive, head of the state, and commander in chief of the armed forces. After reading chapters 10 and 11 of our textbook, Understanding American Government by Susan Welch and John Gruhl, it has become clear why the president is also the dominant force in foreign policy making. Several of the advantages they have include having a monopoly of information of the intelligence agencies, being able to keep information a secret, and revealing as …show more content…
Not only that, but Congress has never been a cross section between the American population. White non-Hispanic males, who make up about one-third of the total population held about sixty-four percent of the seats in the House of Representatives and seventy-nine percent of the seats of the Senate in 2010. Women, who make up fifty-one percent of the nation’s population, are the most underrepresented demographic group with only eighteen percent of the House membership. Without diversity, how will people’s opinion be considered when it comes to foreign policy? It is self-evident that Caucasian males will have a divergent view to foreign policies then citizens with different backgrounds. Congress is also not representative of the range of religious views among the general public. Seventeen percent of the population claims “other” or no religious affiliation, but just one percent of congressional members claim no affiliation and only two percent practice religions other than Christianity and Judaism. In addition to the poor diversification, Congress does not honor its own budget resolutions that establish the amount of spending each year. Congress outspends the dollar limit that it sets. These are all conditions we must take into consideration when composing foreign policy …show more content…
In contrast to the Congress, the president single handedly has abounding amounts of responsibilities and power to do as what 535 people can do and even more. Although Congress still conducts ways to take part in foreign policy, the president will always have that final saying. As commander chief, The Founders realized that use of military is occasionally necessary in the conduct of foreign policy. By making the president the “first general,” they made it clear that the president can countermand the order of any officer. During President Truman’s presidency, he had to make several military decisions. Without his consent the army could not have dropped hydrogen bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During the Korean War, Truman also decided to take General Douglas MacArthur’s spot, and ending his military career, when he tried to expand the conflict into a full-scale war with China. With doing so Truman was able to end racial segregation in the armed forces. It all differentiated with each president. President Clinton, for example, could have used the same authority as Truman to end discrimination against gays in the military, but refused to do