I just finished reading this article, and along with the myriad other outrages of the past 7 years, it leads me to wonder - where can the average United States citizen begin to discipline or correct a sitting president they don’t agree with? Do we have any recourse to stop him? Say that one writes their various House/Congress representative to ask for action - what if that representative agrees with said president and not their own constituent? One **could ** write the president personally, but it seems that would be along the same lines as teaching a pig to whistle.
Have we NO recourse? Is there any modern day tea to throw into the harbor?
Presidential terms have fixed end dates for a reason, they either have to win reelection based on what they’ve done or go home. So there’s a lot you can do, don’t vote for the guy next time he is up. There’s very little you can do in between elections, because that’s by and large how our system is designed. You don’t rule directly, representatives make decisions in your stead, if you don’t feel they are deciding as you’d wish, you don’t vote for them.
While the wording of the impeachment clause of the Constitution opens it up for abuse, I think the intent always was impeachment was for serious breaches of character and the law, simply disagreeing with the way the President is governing isn’t justification for that.
There’s a careful system of checks and balances, and by and large you have to have faith in the three branches using their checks and their balances so that no single branch becomes too powerful. In general it’s worked out pretty well so far as we have one of the oldest continuous governments and constitutions in the world.
You could organize demonstrations outside the White House. LBJ was positively haunted by the anti-war chants outide the White House, Bush has yet to encounter it. How long would Bush ignore a million people in Washington, taking over the Mall from the Lincoln Memorial to the Capitol and surrounding the White House? Suppose instead of dispersing, people around the country get inspired by seeing the protest every single night on the news and millions more come to join it? I’m beginning to think this is the ONLY way to end this war.
Stop the President from what? Interpreting the Executive Orders that his office drafted and he signed? I can understand not liking his interpretation, but an EO seems to me to be the epitome of “what the President wants”. If the president wants this particular EO to apply to the entire executive branch except for offices A, B and C, then that’s exactly what his Executive Order should do.
If the EO oversteps his authority, the courts or congress can rule or legislate or refuse to fund in whatever manner is necessary to overturn or alter the order. If he’s properly within his authority, there’s not much to do. Maybe Congress can pass a law requiring the oversight, but I don’t know if that would fly constitutionally.
You realize that throwing tea in the harbor was an illegal act of protest. There are many things you can do that are illegal but will bring your protest to light. Is that what you want?
Within the system you vote, withhold your vote, file a lawsuit, or run for office.