Painful, Inflamed POTUS

The United Kingdom treats its kings and queens in an interesting way: the royals are never allowed to control the levers of power. Parliament (their equivalent to our Congress) holds all the power, including selection of Prime Minister (their POTUS). Their monarchy serves as a focal point of their patriotic fervor, similar to the feelings we encourage toward our flag or our national anthem, a song about the flag. The king of Britain is like a human flag, or a holiday incarnate; no power, only a figurehead.

Their ancestors, colonists of our eastern seaboard, created the United States government with some significant differences from the system they were throwing off. They had a well-informed distaste for royal rulers. And the constitution they gave us created a chief executive which reflected that hatred for autocratic rulers and their destructive ‘divinely ordained’ whims.

The Constitution protects us from kingly abuses of power. The office of the President is limited in several big ways. States grant some powers to the national government, but their local legislatures and governors retain plenty of power to themselves. States cannot easily be manipulated by the President. The national Congress reserves the powers to make war, tax citizens, regulate commerce, etc. which historically had been wielded by kings, often abusively. Our high court is the last word on how federal powers shall be exercised, including the extent to which the President is allowed to make the office more powerful. Citizens are given the last word, ultimately, in that they have the power to make amendments to the text of the constitution, which is itself the final word on the job description of the presidency.

Those who held the office during our 250 year history shaped the presidency according to how they wielded the powers given to them. They also expended the powers of the office well beyond anything the Framers of the Constitution ever intended. When that document and the writings of its creators are compared with today’s POTUS, it’s obvious that corrective measures must be enacted or else our system of government will become what our Founders feared most: An absolute monarchy wielding power arbitrarily.

In our constitution, we were given the great gift of the Rule of Law. That great idea protects us from abuse by the authorities we allow to govern us. It means that our chosen rulers cannot do anything to limit our liberty unless they do it through laws. Laws which must harmonize with our constitution and which are never permanent or unchanging.

Unfortunately, Congress has abdicated much of its power over to the POTUS. This dangerous trend has resulted in levels of power accumulation in the POTUS great enough that Trump has taken over the GOP, corrupted the judicial branch through the appointment of partisan loyalists, and assumed control of Congress by having an iron grip on the majority Republican House and Senate. Many State governors and legislatures bend the knee to him as his GOP allows no independence from his control.

The Rule of Law might not survive Trump’s campaign to destroy it. Even though we technically remain in a constitutional system with checks and balances limiting POTUS power, 2025 is a different world from colonial America. Trump voters who defend their loyalty to him often describe how the government has failed them. They are duped by him and a cowed GOP into believing lies and conspiracy theories about the waste, abuse, and fraud of a fictional “Deep State.” If only they could see that the biggest threat to our country is the swollen power of the presidency. Their pain is being caused by an inflamed POTUS.