Seems an obvious answer, maybe: A president would seek more power for the executive because he is that executive, and would like more power.
But that doesn’t seem right. A president isn’t acting all alone. He’s got a party behind him, connections to maintain, and so on. And a president (and all of the president’s men) knows that that president, and his party and friends, are likely to be pushed out of the executive loop every four or eight years or so.
For this reason, it is puzzling to me why a president would try to consolidate more power for the executive branch. He’s just handing his people’s future opponents more power, isn’t he? Don’t he and his people know this?
So it’s puzzling to me. Someone please explain it to me, or tell me what’s wrong with the question in the first place.
-FrL-
(The conspiracy theory voice in my head says: The elections are a sham, its all coordinated for the most part kind of like pro wrestling, there’s really just one group in charge or maybe a few factions vying for control behind the scenes and that group or those factions have agreed that, whatever happens, its best for their game that there be a central, unified authority in place, and that the citizenry believe this to have come about by their own decision.)
Presidents seek more executive power because they’re in office at the time they seek it. Most (not all) aren’t thinking far enough ahead to be concerned that, someday, the opposing party will lay claim to the same power. Most (not all) are concerned with crises while in office, and come to believe that it is genuinely necessary that they have expanded powers to do their job. You may well disagree (as I do with President Bush and his sweeping claims to power, which IMHO are near-royal in scope) but most presidents will take just as much power as Congress and the judiciary are willing to cede to them, and more.
The demands of the office are such, and the crisis mentality of its occupants is such, that thinking ahead to what the next president of another party might do is pretty low on their priority lists.
Of course they want the power. They don’t care so much about limiting the power of their successors who may be of the different party, they want the power now. Most of the recent presidents (Bush, Clinton, Reagan, Carter) were former governors so they have built up a distrust of the other branches and a belief that the executive branch is the rightful head of the government. You have to go back to Nixon to find a president (that was elected, sorry, Gerry) that had significant legislative experience.
In Bush’s case, you have this compounded by Rove’s drive to make the Republican domination (overstated as it is) become permanent. You also have to factor in Bush’s delusions of adequacy.
For the same reason that cops want to be able to search and detain people indefinitely on mere suspicion. It makes their job easier. And, of course, I believe that people wouldn’t even apply for such jobs if they didn’t like power for its own sake.
The political process is slow. If a President wants to do something new/different, he has to have someone introduce a bill, get it debated, have it passed, hope no one challenges its consitutionality in court, etc.
How much simpler it would be if he just had the power to do what he wanted to do in the first place.
Every one of us has had our frustration in dealing with sales clerks and bureaucrats who say they can’t comply with our reasonable request without a supervisor’s approval, or because it’s against “policy.” Many of us have even been the person who had to go find the supervisor or quote the policy. Wouldn’t you rather have absolute power?
You bet. I used to think that it would be great to have those who balk my wishes simply vanish. However, I’ve decided that it would get awfully lonesome. Sooner or later everybody pissed you off at least once.
You aren’t far wrong, the two factions vying for control are called the Democratic party and the Republican party. Both parties feel that whatever happens, win one race or lose another race, it’s better to keep playing the game than bring in the jackbooted thugs and send the rivals to prison.
The part you’re wrong about is whether election results are agreed to beforehand. They aren’t, what is agreed to beforehand are gerrymandered districts that ensure safe seats.
Another reason: Think, this person is the president. Therefore they believe in the power of the executive branch, or they wouldn’t have sought that office. It is only natural that they want the influence of that branch of government expanded. Just as someone who seeks a career in the judiciary might be expected to want to expand/promote the power of that branch of government. This is always why it’s no surprise to me when a congressman seeks to solve a problem (any problem) through legislation - it’s in their nature!
I’m not saying that this is the only reason - there is certainly the expediency factor that it serves their current administration.
I think W was humiliated by his father being called a wimp (remember Doonesbury’s cracks about keeping his manhood in trust when he was VP) so now that W is in charge he is going to show “them” that he is’nt a weenie. That’s why he wanted to be a “war president”.
There’s always the possibility that a President may create new powers for the position that a future President with a different agenda might not want to use. For example, if the current President somehow got himself the power of veto over every abortion in the U.S., a future pro-choice Pres. wouldn’t use it. Temporary extra power without the risks of a person with different beliefs using it against you.
The political mentality is that there is no future past the next election. For a second term President this means the world will be ending in less than four years. One aspect of this mentality is a disregard for long-term consequences. Another is the overwhelming need to accomplish everything as quickly as possible - so a President needs all the power he can gather in order to get things done before time runs out.
Rove selected our president. Im not sure Bush showed any interest in the job before Rove went to him. It was a very carefully planned operation. Bush went for the ride. Nixon, Bush the elder, Kennedy, Clinton , they were guys actively pursuing it for most of their adult lives. The plan was to gather as much power as possible and to actively regime change the middle east into our bitch. President Cheney was a big cog in the plan with, Rummy and Nordquist and Wolfowitz etc.