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Autumn Coy Period 7



In the movie it said that Dick Cheney believed the President could do whatever he liked and the Vice President could do whatever he could to enhance Presidential power. In the 1980’s Cheney went to Congress. He didn’t think Reagan needed Congress’ approval on anything. When President Bush was elected, Dick Cheney was Vice President. Vice President Dick Cheney and President Bush did everything they could to keep their plans secret so that the President could have more powers. They hired people that would help them with it. After 9/11 President Bush and Vice President Cheney got the interrogation rules changed. The interrogation rule was changed to where the only thing you couldn’t do to the person you were interrogating was purposely hurt them. He quietly reserved the right to bypass the law under his powers as commander in chief. The only thing that they could not do to the person they are interrogating was inflict intentional pain to them. After a while Congress could finally draw the line with the interrogating changes. The Boston Globe found hundreds of signed bills that were unconstitutional.

 I don’t think that the actions taken by President Bush after 9/11 were constitutional. One action I don’t think was constitutional was when President Bush wiretapped phone calls without a warrant. This is unconstitutional because it is a violation of the Fourth Amendment. The Fourth Amendment guards against unreasonable searches and seizures. It requires a warrant to be signed by judges. This action does not protect civil liberties and it goes against the framework of the constitution. Vice President Cheney did believe that the presidency should have more powers and no system of checks and balances. Cheney believed that the President could do whatever he liked, and he would do whatever he could to enhance the presidential power. Yes this belief challenges the meaning of Democracy/Federalism. Democracy is a form of government in which the ultimate authority rests with the people. It challenges the meaning of Democracy/Federalism because checks and balances help separate powers so there is no dictatorship. And if there is a dictatorship then the people have no say in anything which challenges the meaning of Democracy. I think that all three branches should be equal. If we let one branch have more power than the others there could possibly be a dictatorship. With a dictatorship the people definitely would not have a saw in any political things. It is better to have a Legislative branch that has the power to make law and frame public policies. An Executive branch that has the power to execute, enforce and administer law. And a Judicial branch that has the power to interpret laws, and to determine their meaning and to settle disputes that arise within the society. If the Executive branch has more power we may have a dictatorship like Hitler. If people in the Executive branch didn’t like a certain type of person they could make a law where those people can be tortured, beaten, killed, or even kicked out of the US. Also, if they have more power than the other branches they could possibly get rid of the other branches and take their powers because there would be no use for them. Why keep the other 2 branches if you give the other one more power.