Politics In America

We should hold this truth to be self-evident: that we, the people, have not held up our end of the “social contract” between us and our government. Perhaps our disenfranchisement with the government is one of our own making. Perhaps our role in government needs to go beyond mere obligations, or even participation. And perhaps the emerging divide between the government of the people, by the people, and for the people with those very people can be ameliorated by something as simple as education. As per the aforementioned words of former Prime Minister Churchill, it is incontrovertible that an educated voting populace lies at the very heart of any democratic country. Here in the United States, we extol ourselves for being part of a democracy …show more content…
So much of what we call “politics” today is empty political party propaganda or partisan media sophistry. So little, unfortunately, is actually didactic discussion of how we are making an impact and what exactly our voices and our policy makers are doing can do. To understand this lack of due diligence we as a people have become so accustomed to, one need look no further than the relationship between the American people and the highest office in country: the President of the United States. Article I lays out an extensive description of the role and duties of the legislative branch, and while only a handful of Americans are thoroughly versed in the Constitution, most can confidently give a tentative yet adequate description of how a bill becomes a law and that Congress and other legislative bodies are designed to, as the name suggests, pass legislation. Consequently, Americans also understand it to be their duty to vote for the legislative representatives they support, whether it be on a local, state, or national stage. Article III discusses the judiciary branch, the branch arguably least Americans are competently versed in yet requires perhaps …show more content…
Yet what lies at paramount importance is that this individual is voted to office, albeit through the Electoral College, by the American people. And yet, aside from what the media and the political parties tell the American people, do presidential constituents truly understand what exactly they are electing the President to do and what powers this President has in office? When people or pundits or politicians criticize the President, the person voted into office by an electoral majority of the American people, they have an obligation to do so with a thorough understanding of what exactly the Constitution and historical precedents have dictated for the President to do. Now more so than in recent memory, the power of the executive branch has come under scrutiny and the extent of Presidential power questioned. However, in order to derive an adequate assessment of this argument, one must become educated and versed in what exactly the President can do and has done. The “executive Power” as described in Article II refers directly to that which is wielded by the President. Building upon Article I’s explanation of a presidential veto,