Barry Obama declaring Marshal Law

[Tasslehofp99]

Originally Posted by Frieza_Prexus [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

You're not serious, are you?

The President appoints to the Supreme Court. This alone is a massive power.

The President can unilaterally determine policy directions for the majority of Administrative Agencies.

The President makes treaties and international executive agreements. While the Senate advises and consents to treaties, this is in practice, still a massive power of the Presidency. Remember, treaties are the supreme law of the land under the constitution second only to the constitution itself (and in some cases possibly being supreme over constitutional amendments).

He can unilaterally remove signatures from treaties nullifying them.

The President is the commander in chief, and can start wars (Without starting a War Powers discussion, he functionally can commit acts of war unilaterally).

Need I continue? The notion that the President is weak and powerless is utterly baseless. Misconceptions like this are damaging to our social fabric and should be stymied wherever possible.

Right, so aside from appointing supreme court justices (which in itself is not that powerful because history dictates that more times than not Supreme court justices don't always follow party lines) I dont see anything here that suggests the president holds any true power? I mean, nullifying treaties is cool...but if that were to be damaging/against the best interest of the people I doubt it would stick...after all thats what "Checks & Balances" are for right? Or is that just another illusion of American "Democracy" as well? Also -- How can a president start a war without funding from congress?



As far as determining policy direction as you put it goes, the president is a mere icon for whichever political party he represents. The president has no real agenda, other then the one that is given to him by the people who put him into office.