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Is the presidential veto helpful to democracy?
Results so far:
| Yes | 61% | 118 votes | Total: 193 votes | |
| No | 39% | 75 votes |
Yes
by Angela S. Young
Created on: August 07, 2007
The presidential veto is not only helpful to democracy; it is one of the mainstays of democracy. When your founders conceived our constitution, they envisioned a government in which no one would have total power. They set up the three branches of government, Executive, Legislative and Judicial, to work together and yet work separately. Each branch has a job to do, and each branch acts as a check and balance to the others. This allows the government to continue in democracy by not giving total power to any one branch of the government. Should one cause problems, the others can check them and stop them from abusing their power. At least this is how it is supposed to work.
Presidential veto gives the president power to veto a bill if he doesn't like some part of it. Then it has to go back and be voted on in Congress again. If the president had line-item veto power, he could veto the lines he objects to and still pass the bill. Unfortunately, he does not have this power at this time. Recently, Kennedy attached a hate crimes bill to a troop funding bill in an attempt to sneak the hate crimes bill through. This puts Bush in the position of having to veto the entire bill, thus not allowing funding for the troops, or pass the bill and allow the hate crimes bill to slide through. This is untenable, allowing the legislative branch of government to amend bills with various other bills that have nothing to do with the original bill. They are added, sometimes at the last minute, in an attempt to slide them through the process or to get funding for some favorite pork.
In order to keep our democracy, we need to add line-item veto to the president's powers, and eliminate the ability to attach amendments or bills to other bills that have nothing to do with that topic. When any of the branches have the ability to abuse their power, or try to overstretch the powers given them in the constitution, it imperils democracy. While the legislative branch may put the president in a bad position, he is still able to say no and send the bill back. Giving the branches power to checkmate' the other branches is what keeps our democracy (republic) moving in the right direction. Our founders tried very hard to make sure a faction could never take over the government and make it into a dictatorship or other form of government. These processes allow our bi-partisan government to operate fairly smoothly, despite their differences.
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No
by Jake Dalton
Created on: November 12, 2007
"A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government, and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference." - Thomas Jefferson
Is the presidential veto helpful to democracy? Is the executive powers self-given right more powerful than the words of the people they are supposed to represent? Does a president have the right to veto a bill that millions of Americans and politicians worked voiced their opinion in favor of the bill? No, the presidential veto is not helpful to democracy at all. The presidential veto is an obstruction to democracy.
Democracy is the greek word for "rule by the people" and was the government of the Greek city-state Athens. In today's democracy, however, our government is run like a republic, where only a few people have any impact on what happens in our government. The presidential veto demonstrates this more than any other example that can be presented. The president can personally veto any measure that he deems are not what the American people want. Unfortuantely, this also includes bills that could greatly help many Americans (such as health care bills and timelines to get soldiers out of wars) and bills that could completely boost our economic situation. Their is no better example of why the presidential veto does not help democracy than America's current president, George Bush.
George Bush has proven throughly that the presidential veto is ineffective in democracy. While most Americans want our troops out of the senseless war in Iraq, George Bush vetoes every bill that attempts to get them out. When many Americans believe that better healthcare should be given to children in the United States, George Bush vetoes that bill. George Bush demonstrates time and time again how absolutely non-democratic the idea of the presidential veto is. George Bush has throughly ignored the people of this country and acted upon his own personal ideas. The presidential veto denies the people its right.
The presidential veto demonstrates the true nature of the government we are in. America has become a republic, no longer influenced at all by the people. The only influence at all we have anymore on government is who is our senator and representative in Congress. The presidential election is now determined by electoral votes, despite the popular vote (also demonstrated by King George the 2nd) and our senators and representatives determine electoral votes. The people now have no say in the governments policy and actions. This demonstrates throughly the reasons why we have transformed into a republic.
Republic is defined by the people of that state or country (or at least a part of that people) have impact on its government. When only part of the people in the United States has power to impact the government (approx. 535 people) and the president can act autonomously to denie a bill approved by those 535 people, we are no longer a democratic government. America's system that we set up since the end of the 18th century has betrayed the people of the U.S. and our apathy towards these facts have allowed such an atrocity to slip by.
The presidential veto does not bolster democracy, it tears it down. It denies the rights that was guarenteed to us by our fore fathers and made us powerless to defend our ideas. The people have spoken many times and raised their voices to have bills be approved by the Senate, only to be turned down at the will of our president. This demonstrates now how much we are in need of a new system of government in the United States. We must let our voices be heard and fight the concept of presidential veto.
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