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fandomhigh2007-02-15 10:20 pm
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US Government [Friday, February 16, 1st period]
After handing back their exams, Josh turned to point at the board where he had scrawled "EXECUTIVE BRANCH" in huge letters.
"Morning," he said. "Today we begin talking about the Executive Branch and why it is so completely superior to all other branches of government. Because we get a motorcade and the rest of them don't, among many, many other reasons."
He smiled. "Okay. The Executive Branch. The Presidency. We'll be spending a couple of classes on this since, as you might've guessed, I'm a big fan of this particular branch."
He coughed and the three teal deer who were hanging out by Josh's classroom window gave him a dirty look. "As outlined in Article II of the Constitution, which I'm sure you're all carrying around with you, the position of the Presidency was a pretty amazing piece of compromising. The Articles of Confederation had taught the Founders that you needed a centralized authority figure without necessarily installing a despot. The President would be the nation's chief exec, commander in chief of the military, and only in office for up to eight years after the 22nd Amendment passed."
He smiled. "But what made the Founders so revolutionary is what they didn't come up with in terms of restrictions on who could become President. They placed no explicit race, gender, or religious requirements on the job. The only restrictions are age: you have to be at least 35 years old to be President; and citizenship: you have to be a native citizen of the United States.
"The President is ultimately in charge of all departments and agencies that are charged with executing the laws that Congress passes. Those include the various Departments of, Social Security, Medicare, and the alphabet soup of agencies that normally spring to mind when you think of 'government.' He's the paper-pusher in chief." Josh grinned. "Not to mention in charge of the vast group of people who work directly for the Executive Office--which is what I did until I started teaching you fine people. The EOP --the Executive Office of the President--is where you'll find the National Security Council, the Office of Drug Control Policy, the Trade Representative, and until the DHS was begun, the Office of Homeland Security. These are positions, unlike the folks who are in charge of Cabinet-level departments, that don't require Congressional approval." He raised an eyebrow. "You can see why Congress fought so hard to make homeland security matters something that they would have some kind of say over."
Josh looked down at his notes. "Falling under the powers of the chief executive is also a nifty thing called executive orders, which have the binding force of law over federal departments and agencies without having to go through the Congress. While there's nothing in the Constitution that specifically grants this power, Presidents have been using it since 1789, and I see no sign that it would ever stop.
"Examples of executive orders include President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, Harry Truman's order of racial integration of the armed forces, and Dwight Eisenhower's desegregation of public schools." He shuffled his papers. "Other, less fun versions of executive orders include FDR's order that delegated military authority to remove all people--especially Japanese-Americans and German-Americans--to a military zone, which led the way to Japanese-American internment camps."
He looked around. "Executive orders are also used to issue national security directives and occasionally start military engagements--Kosovo in 1999 was an example of that. Though Congress did pass a resolution authorizing that conflict as well, they were very much not happy to have their power of war declaring cut out from under them. This is still an ongoing issue--executive orders, the War Powers Act and the Constitution all have varying things to say about who can declare what and to whom." He made a face. "It's really better not to think too hard about that."
He turned back to his notes. "Anyway. The President is also the commander-in-chief of the entire US military, including the reserves and the National Guard, which he can mobilize whenever. Ask any of the units currently serving around the world. As a practical matter, the President coordinates military matters with his National Security Council, and aren't those guys just the biggest bunch of pranksters you'll ever meet." Josh paused. "Except for not having any kind of a sense of humor at all."
He made a face. "Okay. As of 2002, only the President of the United States is allowed to refer to himself as the commander-in-chief. The former CINCs--" he pronounced it "sink", "--of the various US military commands are now called combatant commanders. I find this incredibly pretentious, but then again, I find most of what Don Rumsfeld does to be incredibly pretentious."
He sat down. "Today's question: you're the President and just dying to issue an executive order. What do you declare?"
"Morning," he said. "Today we begin talking about the Executive Branch and why it is so completely superior to all other branches of government. Because we get a motorcade and the rest of them don't, among many, many other reasons."
He smiled. "Okay. The Executive Branch. The Presidency. We'll be spending a couple of classes on this since, as you might've guessed, I'm a big fan of this particular branch."
He coughed and the three teal deer who were hanging out by Josh's classroom window gave him a dirty look. "As outlined in Article II of the Constitution, which I'm sure you're all carrying around with you, the position of the Presidency was a pretty amazing piece of compromising. The Articles of Confederation had taught the Founders that you needed a centralized authority figure without necessarily installing a despot. The President would be the nation's chief exec, commander in chief of the military, and only in office for up to eight years after the 22nd Amendment passed."
He smiled. "But what made the Founders so revolutionary is what they didn't come up with in terms of restrictions on who could become President. They placed no explicit race, gender, or religious requirements on the job. The only restrictions are age: you have to be at least 35 years old to be President; and citizenship: you have to be a native citizen of the United States.
"The President is ultimately in charge of all departments and agencies that are charged with executing the laws that Congress passes. Those include the various Departments of, Social Security, Medicare, and the alphabet soup of agencies that normally spring to mind when you think of 'government.' He's the paper-pusher in chief." Josh grinned. "Not to mention in charge of the vast group of people who work directly for the Executive Office--which is what I did until I started teaching you fine people. The EOP --the Executive Office of the President--is where you'll find the National Security Council, the Office of Drug Control Policy, the Trade Representative, and until the DHS was begun, the Office of Homeland Security. These are positions, unlike the folks who are in charge of Cabinet-level departments, that don't require Congressional approval." He raised an eyebrow. "You can see why Congress fought so hard to make homeland security matters something that they would have some kind of say over."
Josh looked down at his notes. "Falling under the powers of the chief executive is also a nifty thing called executive orders, which have the binding force of law over federal departments and agencies without having to go through the Congress. While there's nothing in the Constitution that specifically grants this power, Presidents have been using it since 1789, and I see no sign that it would ever stop.
"Examples of executive orders include President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, Harry Truman's order of racial integration of the armed forces, and Dwight Eisenhower's desegregation of public schools." He shuffled his papers. "Other, less fun versions of executive orders include FDR's order that delegated military authority to remove all people--especially Japanese-Americans and German-Americans--to a military zone, which led the way to Japanese-American internment camps."
He looked around. "Executive orders are also used to issue national security directives and occasionally start military engagements--Kosovo in 1999 was an example of that. Though Congress did pass a resolution authorizing that conflict as well, they were very much not happy to have their power of war declaring cut out from under them. This is still an ongoing issue--executive orders, the War Powers Act and the Constitution all have varying things to say about who can declare what and to whom." He made a face. "It's really better not to think too hard about that."
He turned back to his notes. "Anyway. The President is also the commander-in-chief of the entire US military, including the reserves and the National Guard, which he can mobilize whenever. Ask any of the units currently serving around the world. As a practical matter, the President coordinates military matters with his National Security Council, and aren't those guys just the biggest bunch of pranksters you'll ever meet." Josh paused. "Except for not having any kind of a sense of humor at all."
He made a face. "Okay. As of 2002, only the President of the United States is allowed to refer to himself as the commander-in-chief. The former CINCs--" he pronounced it "sink", "--of the various US military commands are now called combatant commanders. I find this incredibly pretentious, but then again, I find most of what Don Rumsfeld does to be incredibly pretentious."
He sat down. "Today's question: you're the President and just dying to issue an executive order. What do you declare?"
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Re: Talk to Josh