Sounds like the opening lyric to a sappy Smiths song, doesn't it? But this has nothing to do with the aforementioned 1980s British shoegazers. (Sorry, folks.)
It has everything to do with the current setup of our national government.
When you consider to yourself, "Who's making the big decisions in this country?" or, "Who's got the real power here?", the first thing to come to mind would likely be the presidency. And it's true - as of today, the executive branch has grown into the most prominent of the three divisions of our political system, with the White House far overshadowing those other two little buildings on Capitol Hill.
But that's not how it was intended at all. Looking back on the historical precedents (not presidents, precedents) in our country, we can see that originally it was Congress, not the presidency, that was planned to shoulder the bulk of the power shared by the trifecta of U.S. government. Things were set up so that in order to carry out any personal decision, the president would have to go through Congress first. In addition, the Constitution devoted most of its content to the legislative branch, not the executive. The president was viewed as more of a figurehead and less of a mover and shaker.
However, as evidenced by these statistics found on the National Center for Policy Analysis website, the current state of affairs has brought us to the point where our government might as well just start using the slogan "More Power to the President." In just three years since his inauguration, President Obama has dramatically pushed the boundaries of the presidency, championing major legislative overhauls through Congress and the Supreme Court almost singlehandedly. Now more than ever, all the chatter on the news and elsewhere is about the presidency, the whole presidency and nothing but the presidency. The executive branch has swallowed up the other two like a black hole, draining all their power and absorbing it as its own. It would seem as though the President has the power to muscle any policy he chooses past the supposed barrier of Congress without a hitch. But that is not at all how it was meant to be.
What happened to the system of checks and balances? The three branches of government need to stabilize and temper one another, finding a happy medium where all have an equal say in matters of national importance. But more and more, the American government is leaning towards something like a dictatorship rather than a republic. This obviously needs to be solved.
A clear course of action is outlined on the NCPA site. Congress needs to take matters into its own hands by moderating how much legislative power is delegated to administrative groups that fall under the executive branch. It should require formal rulemaking for major policies by holding hearings with evidence presented to reach the best possible agreement. Lastly, it should hold itself accountable for the laws formulated by the executive branch and see that the right ones are passed and that the wrong ones are stamped out.
It's not too daunting of a task. All Congress needs is to do the right thing and actively try to restore the balance between the branches of our national government. The power shift should not be allowed to continue any further, for fear of compromising the entire sanctity of our time-honored political system.
Only when this issue is straightened out will our nation truly be brought back to life, back to reality.
And for your viewing benefit, here's a picture of the Smiths:
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