The Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive PowerCato Institute, 2008 - 367 pages The Bush years have justifiably given rise to fears of a new Imperial Presidency. Yet despite the controversy surrounding the administration's expansive claims of executive power, both Left and Right agree on the boundless nature of presidential responsibility. The Imperial Presidency is the price we seem to be willingly and dangerously agreeable to pay the office the focus of our national hopes and dreams. Interweaving historical scholarship, legal analysis, and cultural commentary, The Cult of the Presidency argues that the Presidency needs to be reined in, its powers checked and supervised, and its wartime authority put back under the oversight of the Congress and the courts. Only then will we begin to return the Presidency to its proper constitutionally limited role. |
From inside the book
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Page 4
... demand that he fulfill our every need . That tension suffuses the American view of the presidency from low culture to high . And in their rhetoric , presidents stoke the pub- lic's inflated expectations , promising moral leadership and ...
... demand that he fulfill our every need . That tension suffuses the American view of the presidency from low culture to high . And in their rhetoric , presidents stoke the pub- lic's inflated expectations , promising moral leadership and ...
Page 9
... demands. And like the transformed presidential role it reflects, the exultant rhetoric of the modern presidency is as much curse as blessing. It raises expectations for the office— expectations that were extraordinarily high to begin ...
... demands. And like the transformed presidential role it reflects, the exultant rhetoric of the modern presidency is as much curse as blessing. It raises expectations for the office— expectations that were extraordinarily high to begin ...
Page 10
... demands may not be directly responsible for the institu- tional failures of Congress or for America's dangerous overcommit- ment abroad , but Americans ' conviction that on all matters of policy the buck stops with the president makes ...
... demands may not be directly responsible for the institu- tional failures of Congress or for America's dangerous overcommit- ment abroad , but Americans ' conviction that on all matters of policy the buck stops with the president makes ...
Page 52
... demands for increased federal power , and new technologies of mass communication made it easier for activist presidents to claim the bulk of that power . Radio and television enhanced the president's emerging plebiscitary role , making ...
... demands for increased federal power , and new technologies of mass communication made it easier for activist presidents to claim the bulk of that power . Radio and television enhanced the president's emerging plebiscitary role , making ...
Page 70
... demands for federal action in areas properly reserved to the states and the people.85 Presidents in the decade of normalcy pounded that pulpit far less than either TR or Wilson . For the most part , they declined to follow Wilson's ...
... demands for federal action in areas properly reserved to the states and the people.85 Presidents in the decade of normalcy pounded that pulpit far less than either TR or Wilson . For the most part , they declined to follow Wilson's ...
Contents
15 | |
49 | |
79 | |
105 | |
Superman Returns | 137 |
War President | 165 |
Omnipotence and Impotence | 197 |
Why the Worst Get on Top and Get Worse | 233 |
Toward Normalcy | 267 |
Other editions - View all
The Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power Gene Healy Limited preview - 2009 |
The Cult of the Presidency: America's Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power Gene Healy Limited preview - 2009 |
Common terms and phrases
20th century administration's Al Qaeda American Presidency army Arthur Schlesinger Jr attack authority Bill Bush's campaign Cato Institute citizens Clinton commander in chief Congress congressional conservative constitutional Coolidge Court crisis debate declared Defense delegates Democratic dent disaster domestic election enemy enemy combatant executive branch executive power federal Federalist fight force foreign Framers George George H. W. Bush George W Heroic Presidency Ibid Imperial Presidency Intelligence Iraq James John Yoo Journal Katrina leaders legislative liberties Michael military modern president national security Nixon October Padilla peace Posse Comitatus Act President Bush presidential power Presidential Studies Quarterly Quoted Republican responsibility Review rhetoric role Roosevelt Rossiter Schlesinger Secret Service Senate September 11 speech surveillance Taft Terror terrorist threat tion troops Truman trust United University Press Vietnam vote War on Terror War Powers Resolution Washington Post Watergate White House William Wilson wiretapping York
Popular passages
Page 85 - Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty.
Page 71 - I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis — broad executive power to wage a war against the emergency as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe.
Page 91 - Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as Commander In Chief, to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.
Page 41 - Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose, and you allow him to make war at pleasure.
Page 43 - Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies ; from these proceed debts and taxes ; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.
Page 304 - Security against foreign danger is one of the primitive objects of civil society. It is an avowed and essential object of the American Union. The powers requisite for attaining it must be effectually confided to the federal councils.
Page 44 - That said Andrew Johnson, President of the United States, unmindful of the high duties of his office and the dignity and proprieties thereof...
Page 49 - ... as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline, because without such discipline no progress is made, no leadership becomes effective.
Page 159 - Those who are to conduct a war cannot in the nature of things, be proper or safe judges, whether a war ought to be commenced, continued or concluded. They are barred from the latter functions by a great principle in free government, analogous to that which separates the sword from the purse, or the power of executing from the power of enacting laws.