My mind often wanders as I sit at my desk in the late hours of the night as it did this past evening..
Within the seat of our government from the position of president on into our congressional representatives and concluding our nation's judicial branch we can bear witness to vast amounts of political power.
These generous supplies of power work in conjunction with our constitution to support the concept of separation of powers.
These checks and balances serve as auxiliary precautions to prevent one division of the government from obtaining too much power.
Since our constitution fails to exploit every detail involved in the various governmental divisions we are provided with a rather broad spectrum of dominance which during certain circumstances may appear to be excessive.
Fortunately for us, this is merely a temporary illusion and within a short period of time the status quo quickly balances out one again.
The office of Commander-in-Chief of the United States has been gifted with numerous powers beginning with those provided by Article II of our Constitution.
This article of our founding document defines the executive branch of America and establishes the provisions of the President's power.
It clearly identifies his responsibilities as that of a representative who is vested with the authority to execute the mandates as set forth by Congress.
Although the President can not actually create and introduce his own legislation into the agenda, it is a simple matter for him to locate a trusted member of his party to promote his illicit legislative goals.
The president is empowered to enforce those decrees of congress which are deemed necessary for the good of our nation.
The President is widely referred to as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Services.
This designation includes not only the active military but the state militias as well.
He is afforded the consent to grant reprieves or pardons for offenses committed against our country.
It is within his realm of control to establish treaties with the consent of the Senate.
He has the right to assign foreign ambassadors to represent our country and Judges who will sit before the Supreme Court with the approval of our Senate members.
He acts as our head of state entertaining and welcoming foreign dignitaries to America.
At the same time he is empowered to offer such diplomatic recognition to any nation he so chooses.
It is his responsibility to manage the national affairs of America while he occupies the chair as president and to oversee the workings of our government, all for the good of the people.
The president can issue what is known as Executive Orders which have the same force of the law but simply does not require congressional approval.
His financial obligation is to prepare the annual budget and present it to congress for approval along with occasionally presenting a State of the Union report to the people.
It is apparent that those powers provided to the president are carefully scrutinized by those of the other two divisions of government so it appears that the president does not have an opportunity to abuse the power he is vested with, as was Hamilton's intent.
We are all familiar with the actions associated with our Legislative Branch of government.
Article 1, of our Constitution established the legislative branch consisting of 435 member of the House along with another 100 from the US Senate.
Congress serves as our nation's lawmaking body and is responsible for a number of federal level operations.
It is congress which has been given the most prominent details of their powers within the lines of our constitution.
However, when the words in our constitution state "We the people" it's intend is directed towards our legislative branch of government.
It is the people's voices which are heard in the halls of the House and of the Senate.
Within our governing authorities the powers are limited as granted by the people and with these powers is justification that they will be employed exclusively for the benefit of the people.
Abuse of those sovereign powers will not be permitted and they could be recalled if necessary.
It is our House of Representatives which possess the solo power to impeach the president of the United States, after which the final authority rests squarely upon the shoulders of the Senate members.
It has been left up to the powers within congress to collect the necessary taxes and to pay the Debts accumulated for our country.
They are responsible for the Defense of the United States and the equipment used in the task.
They may authorize our nation to borrow money as necessary on behalf of the United States.
They are commission to regulate commerce between America and any foreign countries, various national states and among the various Native American Tribes.
They are expected to establish uniform codes relating to naturalization and the laws relevant to financial bankruptcies.
It is Congress, who is authorized to coin money and to regulate its intended value while maintaining a fixed Standard of Weights and Measurements, Our congress has established and maintains a Postal system which reaches the far corners of the world.
They promote progress in the Sciences and in the various arts by way of patents and copyrights.
Congress is the only authority in the nation that can declare war upon another country.
In short the major task for the legislative branch of our government is that of creating laws.
It is their calling to create the bills which we live by and subsequently pass them into law.
They are the only branch of government that can not only create new laws but change existing ones when they no longer serve their purpose.
They are responsible for the federal finances as they approve or disapprove the president's annual budget.
The legislative branch is also accountable for creating and maintaining an active military.
Congress may hold hearings and establish investigative committees as it deems necessary.
During these sessions of these investigations they have the power to compel testimony when necessary.
As you can see this branch of government also waves some awesome power but it too falls under the checks and balances system the same as the other two.
The Judicial Branch of our government is composed of courts and judges.
Within this branch we encounter three separate court levels being the district courts, the court of appeals and the highest court in the nation - the Supreme Court.
The powers delivered to the courts are essentially and necessary to interpret our laws.
We must keep in mind that the jurisdiction contracted to our judicial branch is limited in scope to the constitutional and federally directed laws.
These types of court cases are usually consistent in nature to those of a constitutional preeminence, violations involving treaties or crimes committed while on federal property.
Since often it is the lower courts which determine any sort of precedent of a case those lower court judges must provide valid, legal reasons in support of their decisions which they have handed down.
Oftentimes it is these decisions which affect the American citizens the most.
At first one would suspect that the judiciary branch would hold the honor of having the most power from the three branches however, I do not believe this to be true.
They may in fact have the power to change and modify laws through their judicial review process but other courts with similar powers may annul the laws if they happen to find them incompatible from the accepted constitutional standards.
The judges selected to hold a seat in the courts are by and large of high moral character and accept their positions and responsibilities in a solemn manner.
I can not with any certainty establish one branch to have more power than the others.
I think that the smooth operating capabilities of our government depend upon all three having defined limits along with the established checks and balances.
Examples of this would be if the courts sentenced an individual to life in prison for a crime.
If the president felt that the judge's decision was a trifle too harsh or that the issues presented in the court case appeared to be other than what was displayed, he could commute the sentence.
In this respect the executive branch is balancing the power of the judicial branch.
Another example would be if the president presents his annual budget to congress for approval and our representatives viewed the compounded figures as excessive.
In this case they may refuse to validate the request and cause the process to start all over again.
This also works in reverse as well since the president has been gifted by our forefathers with the right of "veto".
So, I must honestly say that no one branch has the most power to gain the upper hand.
The primary mechanism used to separate the dominance of the three branches rests upon the execution of the various checks on the powers vested in the other two.
Even congress, which is traditionally viewed within the constitution as the most powerful branch is divided into several chambers to encourage this division of powers.
These chambers serve as effective checks on our legislative powers.
Is it considered to be the most powerful due to its dominant characteristics? Is its power for handling the nation's monetary supplies and its legislative power the reason it is rallied as the most powerful? Based upon these potential factors the question of power within the separate branches of our government must be examined amidst the context of the individual issues or concerns.
Occasionally an issue will dictate that congress show more power while at other time the topics may point to the president as the power holder.
Each branch has some powerful tools and can often conjure up some prevailing results but all in all I feel the power is generally divided up equally.
Copyright @2012 Joseph Parish
Within the seat of our government from the position of president on into our congressional representatives and concluding our nation's judicial branch we can bear witness to vast amounts of political power.
These generous supplies of power work in conjunction with our constitution to support the concept of separation of powers.
These checks and balances serve as auxiliary precautions to prevent one division of the government from obtaining too much power.
Since our constitution fails to exploit every detail involved in the various governmental divisions we are provided with a rather broad spectrum of dominance which during certain circumstances may appear to be excessive.
Fortunately for us, this is merely a temporary illusion and within a short period of time the status quo quickly balances out one again.
The office of Commander-in-Chief of the United States has been gifted with numerous powers beginning with those provided by Article II of our Constitution.
This article of our founding document defines the executive branch of America and establishes the provisions of the President's power.
It clearly identifies his responsibilities as that of a representative who is vested with the authority to execute the mandates as set forth by Congress.
Although the President can not actually create and introduce his own legislation into the agenda, it is a simple matter for him to locate a trusted member of his party to promote his illicit legislative goals.
The president is empowered to enforce those decrees of congress which are deemed necessary for the good of our nation.
The President is widely referred to as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Services.
This designation includes not only the active military but the state militias as well.
He is afforded the consent to grant reprieves or pardons for offenses committed against our country.
It is within his realm of control to establish treaties with the consent of the Senate.
He has the right to assign foreign ambassadors to represent our country and Judges who will sit before the Supreme Court with the approval of our Senate members.
He acts as our head of state entertaining and welcoming foreign dignitaries to America.
At the same time he is empowered to offer such diplomatic recognition to any nation he so chooses.
It is his responsibility to manage the national affairs of America while he occupies the chair as president and to oversee the workings of our government, all for the good of the people.
The president can issue what is known as Executive Orders which have the same force of the law but simply does not require congressional approval.
His financial obligation is to prepare the annual budget and present it to congress for approval along with occasionally presenting a State of the Union report to the people.
It is apparent that those powers provided to the president are carefully scrutinized by those of the other two divisions of government so it appears that the president does not have an opportunity to abuse the power he is vested with, as was Hamilton's intent.
We are all familiar with the actions associated with our Legislative Branch of government.
Article 1, of our Constitution established the legislative branch consisting of 435 member of the House along with another 100 from the US Senate.
Congress serves as our nation's lawmaking body and is responsible for a number of federal level operations.
It is congress which has been given the most prominent details of their powers within the lines of our constitution.
However, when the words in our constitution state "We the people" it's intend is directed towards our legislative branch of government.
It is the people's voices which are heard in the halls of the House and of the Senate.
Within our governing authorities the powers are limited as granted by the people and with these powers is justification that they will be employed exclusively for the benefit of the people.
Abuse of those sovereign powers will not be permitted and they could be recalled if necessary.
It is our House of Representatives which possess the solo power to impeach the president of the United States, after which the final authority rests squarely upon the shoulders of the Senate members.
It has been left up to the powers within congress to collect the necessary taxes and to pay the Debts accumulated for our country.
They are responsible for the Defense of the United States and the equipment used in the task.
They may authorize our nation to borrow money as necessary on behalf of the United States.
They are commission to regulate commerce between America and any foreign countries, various national states and among the various Native American Tribes.
They are expected to establish uniform codes relating to naturalization and the laws relevant to financial bankruptcies.
It is Congress, who is authorized to coin money and to regulate its intended value while maintaining a fixed Standard of Weights and Measurements, Our congress has established and maintains a Postal system which reaches the far corners of the world.
They promote progress in the Sciences and in the various arts by way of patents and copyrights.
Congress is the only authority in the nation that can declare war upon another country.
In short the major task for the legislative branch of our government is that of creating laws.
It is their calling to create the bills which we live by and subsequently pass them into law.
They are the only branch of government that can not only create new laws but change existing ones when they no longer serve their purpose.
They are responsible for the federal finances as they approve or disapprove the president's annual budget.
The legislative branch is also accountable for creating and maintaining an active military.
Congress may hold hearings and establish investigative committees as it deems necessary.
During these sessions of these investigations they have the power to compel testimony when necessary.
As you can see this branch of government also waves some awesome power but it too falls under the checks and balances system the same as the other two.
The Judicial Branch of our government is composed of courts and judges.
Within this branch we encounter three separate court levels being the district courts, the court of appeals and the highest court in the nation - the Supreme Court.
The powers delivered to the courts are essentially and necessary to interpret our laws.
We must keep in mind that the jurisdiction contracted to our judicial branch is limited in scope to the constitutional and federally directed laws.
These types of court cases are usually consistent in nature to those of a constitutional preeminence, violations involving treaties or crimes committed while on federal property.
Since often it is the lower courts which determine any sort of precedent of a case those lower court judges must provide valid, legal reasons in support of their decisions which they have handed down.
Oftentimes it is these decisions which affect the American citizens the most.
At first one would suspect that the judiciary branch would hold the honor of having the most power from the three branches however, I do not believe this to be true.
They may in fact have the power to change and modify laws through their judicial review process but other courts with similar powers may annul the laws if they happen to find them incompatible from the accepted constitutional standards.
The judges selected to hold a seat in the courts are by and large of high moral character and accept their positions and responsibilities in a solemn manner.
I can not with any certainty establish one branch to have more power than the others.
I think that the smooth operating capabilities of our government depend upon all three having defined limits along with the established checks and balances.
Examples of this would be if the courts sentenced an individual to life in prison for a crime.
If the president felt that the judge's decision was a trifle too harsh or that the issues presented in the court case appeared to be other than what was displayed, he could commute the sentence.
In this respect the executive branch is balancing the power of the judicial branch.
Another example would be if the president presents his annual budget to congress for approval and our representatives viewed the compounded figures as excessive.
In this case they may refuse to validate the request and cause the process to start all over again.
This also works in reverse as well since the president has been gifted by our forefathers with the right of "veto".
So, I must honestly say that no one branch has the most power to gain the upper hand.
The primary mechanism used to separate the dominance of the three branches rests upon the execution of the various checks on the powers vested in the other two.
Even congress, which is traditionally viewed within the constitution as the most powerful branch is divided into several chambers to encourage this division of powers.
These chambers serve as effective checks on our legislative powers.
Is it considered to be the most powerful due to its dominant characteristics? Is its power for handling the nation's monetary supplies and its legislative power the reason it is rallied as the most powerful? Based upon these potential factors the question of power within the separate branches of our government must be examined amidst the context of the individual issues or concerns.
Occasionally an issue will dictate that congress show more power while at other time the topics may point to the president as the power holder.
Each branch has some powerful tools and can often conjure up some prevailing results but all in all I feel the power is generally divided up equally.
Copyright @2012 Joseph Parish