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Feb. 5th, 2008 05:44 pmPragmatically, there are only a few things that a President can do to significantly change the political structure:
1. Veto stuff. This puts up resistance to marginal or contested bills, but doesn't stop anything that has a great deal of support in Congress.
As most politicians are corrupt enough to engage in logrolling, Presidents often use their veto power to "cut deals" to get their pet projects passed, but again, this only works on things that are marginally acceptable to Congress to begin with.
2. Make speeches. The symbolic value of the President can influence people's opinions on certain things. This of course is one of those odd equilibria, because the kind of person that this is going to work on is usually the kind of person that isn't going to really understand the issues anyway.
3. Control the military. A determined anti-war President could give orders to the troops that would place them out of the action, effectively ending any conflict. And he or she could keep them out of situations where they might provoke new conflicts to begin with.
4. Declassify documents. As the at least nominal head of every executive agency, the President could order all sorts of stuff declassified.
This might not seem like a big deal on the surface, but that's because almost every politician buys into the idea that it's ok for the government to keep secrets. I suspect any President who tried this one would be assassinated, or severely threatened in some way.
5. Selectively prosecute people. The President can use his or her power over the Justice Department, FBI, etc. to selectively investigate and prosecute or blackmail people. This isn't a "nice" power, but I think it's naive to believe they don't use it, whenever possible. Enforcing the "laws" is one of the main functions of the Executive branch.
So if you feel you must vote, imagine how the various candidates will use these powers and vote accordingly.
1. Veto stuff. This puts up resistance to marginal or contested bills, but doesn't stop anything that has a great deal of support in Congress.
As most politicians are corrupt enough to engage in logrolling, Presidents often use their veto power to "cut deals" to get their pet projects passed, but again, this only works on things that are marginally acceptable to Congress to begin with.
2. Make speeches. The symbolic value of the President can influence people's opinions on certain things. This of course is one of those odd equilibria, because the kind of person that this is going to work on is usually the kind of person that isn't going to really understand the issues anyway.
3. Control the military. A determined anti-war President could give orders to the troops that would place them out of the action, effectively ending any conflict. And he or she could keep them out of situations where they might provoke new conflicts to begin with.
4. Declassify documents. As the at least nominal head of every executive agency, the President could order all sorts of stuff declassified.
This might not seem like a big deal on the surface, but that's because almost every politician buys into the idea that it's ok for the government to keep secrets. I suspect any President who tried this one would be assassinated, or severely threatened in some way.
5. Selectively prosecute people. The President can use his or her power over the Justice Department, FBI, etc. to selectively investigate and prosecute or blackmail people. This isn't a "nice" power, but I think it's naive to believe they don't use it, whenever possible. Enforcing the "laws" is one of the main functions of the Executive branch.
So if you feel you must vote, imagine how the various candidates will use these powers and vote accordingly.
