# US Politics: would you rather control Congress or the presidency for 20 years? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 16, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-politics-would-you-rather-control-congress-or-the-presidency-for-20-years/219403 "2003-12-16T21:57:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-politics-would-you-rather-control-congress-or-the-presidency-for-20-years/219403/1 "2003-12-16T21:57:51Z")
A genie or similarly powerful magic being will grant you one specific wish: your political party of choice can control _either_ the presidency or congress for the next twenty years. The other party will maintain control of the other branch of government for the same period of time. You, yourself, are not in control of your party. You don’t get to pick the nominees with any greater power than you’ve ever had. Free elections for the next twenty years will be held, but people will magically vote your party in, guaranteed. After that, your party won’t necessarily lose control, but no magic will be in effect. Do you choose to put your party in control of congress or the presidency? Would your answer change if the party controlling Congress had a two-thirds majority in both houses? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-politics-would-you-rather-control-congress-or-the-presidency-for-20-years/219403/2 "2003-12-16T22:38:06Z")
Congress. Regardless of the size of the majority. Congress decides how much will be spent on what. Congress decides who will sit on the federal bench and in the Cabinet. Congress has the power pretty much to stop the president from doing almost anything. Congress is definitely the way to go. ---
**Author:** ![MrTuffPaws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MrTuffPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrTuffPaws)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-politics-would-you-rather-control-congress-or-the-presidency-for-20-years/219403/3 "2003-12-16T23:02:55Z")
A second for the congress. BTW, is this a wish or a curse 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Susanann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ab992/32.png) [@Susanann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susanann)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-politics-would-you-rather-control-congress-or-the-presidency-for-20-years/219403/4 "2003-12-17T01:59:48Z")
If you are talking about republicans and democrats, I dont think it makes any difference, there is really not much difference between them. If you mean a third party, then definitely the congress- assuming you had enough votes to over ride vetos. If you dont have the votes to override presidential vetos- then definitely the presidency. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-politics-would-you-rather-control-congress-or-the-presidency-for-20-years/219403/5 "2003-12-17T02:21:53Z")
I’m a damn big supporter of Congress, but give me the White House any day. I can only think of one Congress in recent history that really led the way in setting a national agenda, and that was the Gingrich Contract With America session that swept in in 1994. At all other times, the President has such an overwhelming ability to set the national agenda, it is more influential than any power found in the Constitution. ---
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-politics-would-you-rather-control-congress-or-the-presidency-for-20-years/219403/6 "2003-12-17T04:57:55Z")
> [@](#): > > _Ravenman:_ > I’m a damn big supporter of Congress, but give me the White House any day. This is probably my own leaning. I remember the Reagan years – solid Democratic majority in both houses, but Reagan called the shots and set the national agenda. Obviously Congress wasn’t useless, but I think the executive (under a strong-willed president) has more power. > [@](#): > > _Susanann:_ > If you are talking about republicans and democrats I’m talking about whomever you like, really. I thought about limiting it to the big two, but figured responses would be more interesting if other parties weren’t written out. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2003, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-politics-would-you-rather-control-congress-or-the-presidency-for-20-years/219403/7 "2003-12-17T05:50:12Z")
Mine is a party of one, so I’d have to do a little more than bilocating to get elected more than once:D I’ma hafta go with **Otto** ’s answer, though … the President can’t exactly vote legislation in (he can approve or veto, but his veto can be overriden). The House has more power than the President … at least in theory.