The Fight Against Tyranny Democracy is a form of government where political authority is in the hands of the people. A tyranny is when one person or a group of people put forth a form of cruel and oppressive government. The United States is a democratic country. This is because the U.S. has the separation of powers, checks and balances, and federalism. The separation of powers prevents tyranny in the national government by separating the central government into the legislative, executive, and judicial branches so that not one person or group will have all the power. The system of checks and balances allows each branch of government to keep an eye on the other two branches to keep them in check and look at their actions. Federalism helps limit
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With checks and balances, each of the three branches has the right to limit the powers of the other two branches. By doing this, one branch does not have the opportunity to overpower the others. Basically, each branch “checks” or oversees the power of the other two branches to make sure that the power is balances among all three of them equally. Checks and balances limit government power in the U.S. because it allows all three branches to watch out over one another so one won’t become too powerful over the other two. By doing this, they equally balance the power between them. A real example of how checks and balances prevent tyranny would be how the judiciary branch checks on the executive branch (President). After the September 11 terrorist attacks, according to CollegeAmericanGovernemnt.org, “ President Bush declared that the executive branch had the power to detain “Illegal enemy combatants” indefinitely, without trial,” (Hanley, James). Following 9/11, Yaser Hamdi, who’s an American citizen, was captured in Afghanistan and was held inside a military prison. His father was completely against his son’s imprisonment. He argued that his son wasn’t a threat against the United States. Instead, Yaser was there for some charitable work. The Supreme Court then ruled that the executive branch didn’t have the right to hold a U.S. citizen indefinitely without allowing them to challenge their status as an illegal enemy combatant in the courts. Within the checks and balances, each and every branch has the right to check on and balance the power within every other branch. They each make sure that the others don’t overrule them all. With the example above, the judicial branch checked on the executive branch to conclude that the President had no right to hold a U.S. citizen indefinitely, like Hamdi’s case. The judicial branch was
With checks and balances, each of the three branches has the right to limit the powers of the other two branches. By doing this, one branch does not have the opportunity to overpower the others. Basically, each branch “checks” or oversees the power of the other two branches to make sure that the power is balances among all three of them equally. Checks and balances limit government power in the U.S. because it allows all three branches to watch out over one another so one won’t become too powerful over the other two. By doing this, they equally balance the power between them. A real example of how checks and balances prevent tyranny would be how the judiciary branch checks on the executive branch (President). After the September 11 terrorist attacks, according to CollegeAmericanGovernemnt.org, “ President Bush declared that the executive branch had the power to detain “Illegal enemy combatants” indefinitely, without trial,” (Hanley, James). Following 9/11, Yaser Hamdi, who’s an American citizen, was captured in Afghanistan and was held inside a military prison. His father was completely against his son’s imprisonment. He argued that his son wasn’t a threat against the United States. Instead, Yaser was there for some charitable work. The Supreme Court then ruled that the executive branch didn’t have the right to hold a U.S. citizen indefinitely without allowing them to challenge their status as an illegal enemy combatant in the courts. Within the checks and balances, each and every branch has the right to check on and balance the power within every other branch. They each make sure that the others don’t overrule them all. With the example above, the judicial branch checked on the executive branch to conclude that the President had no right to hold a U.S. citizen indefinitely, like Hamdi’s case. The judicial branch was