Much of the nation’s attention over the last year has fixated on one man: The president of the United States. Will he build his promised border wall? Will he succeed in repealing and replacing Obamacare? Will he try to end Robert Mueller’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia? What will he tweet about next?
This fixation on the president — on his campaign promises, his tweets, his executive orders — is understandable. Yet focusing too narrowly on the president threatens to exaggerate the president’s power. In particular, it obscures the fact that the president of the United States is just one actor among many in our governmental system. He is not all-powerful. Indeed, he can do little to change the law without the support or acquiescence of others.
When the framers drafted our Constitution back in 1787, they carefully divided up power to prevent too much authority from falling into any one person’s hands. As a result, at the national level, the Constitution divides power among three branches: the legislative, the executive, and the judicial. In addition, the Constitution imposes separate divisions of power between the states and the national government. It then gives members of the public important protections (such as the right to free speech) against the state governments, the federal government, or both. In other words, to protect against the abuses of power, the Constitution does not concentrate power in one person, in one branch of government, or even in one government.
One consequence of this complicated system of checks and balances is that the president’s power, while vast, is far from unlimited. His ability to get things done depends on many other actors, including Congress, the states, the courts, the media, and members of the public. Take the border wall as an example. Trump repeatedly has insisted that construction should begin. As a legal matter, however, he cannot start this process simply by issuing orders. Rather, the Constitution requires that Congress first allocate the money necessary for such a project. Because Congress so far has refused, the wall remains unbuilt.
By dividing power in this way, the law gives Congress and others, including the people, important mechanisms through which we all can check and balance the president. To the extent that people would like to influence what the president does, or how he does it, there are numerous ways to get involved. In our book, The Limits of Presidential Power: A Citizen’s Guide to the Law, we explore many of the ways that citizens can either work in favor of, or against, a president’s agenda. The following three are often among the most effective:
First, vote in all elections, including state and local elections. Much of what a president wants to get done depends on the support of state and local officials. Federal immigration efforts, for example, rely heavily on choices made at the state and local level. As a result, voting in state and local elections — not only higher profile presidential elections — matters a great deal.
Second, realize that much of a president’s power comes from laws passed by your representatives in Congress, not directly from the US Constitution. To take one important example, the president now enjoys a great deal of discretion in setting climate change policy in our nation. This is not because the Constitution gives him such power. Rather, it is because Congress has — through both its actions and inaction. If it wanted, Congress could take that discretion right back. As a result, citizens who want to support, or to oppose, presidential action in the climate change arena should be exerting pressure on their representatives in Congress.
Third, exercise your First Amendment rights by speaking out on issues you care about. One way you can do this is by going to www.regulations.gov and filing comments in ongoing executive branch rulemaking proceedings that touch on everything from offshore drilling to labor issues, from taxes to gun regulation. The process for filing comments is fairly straightforward, and, by law, agencies must consider all significant comments that they receive.
Regardless of how you choose to participate in our democratic system of government, it is important to remember that the president’s powers are not unlimited. To the contrary, the president is subject to a complex system of checks and balances that is maintained and enforced by others — including people like you.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
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