Things About The Executive Branch May Shock us. The government of the United States of America is designed with three branches. The branches of the American government are the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judiciary branch.

None of the branches of the United States government is intended to have absolute power within the country, and each is accountable in some way to the other two.

The executive branch of the American government is headed by the president.

In addition to the president, the executive branch also consists of the vice president, and the president’s cabinet, executive departments and agencies.

What do we really know about the executive branch?

Most times it seems that the legislative branch holds the most power in our government, but that is probably because they are in the public eye the most, and they are most often caught in their misuse of their power.

The executive branch likely holds the most power, because the president is intended to lead the country.

Cheney

Power

An article on kindlingman.wordpress.com/2008/03/11/congress-unable-to-check-executive-branch-power/, is about the executive branch power in the United States recently.

The article discusses that Congress let the power of the executive branch run uncontrolled for too long and now is unable to keep it in check.

During the presidency of George W. Bush, the country was put into turmoil by terrorist attacks on our home soil.

The executive branch used this event to vastly expand its power and put into place laws which take away the rights of the citizens of the United States.

According to the article, the make up of Congress at the time was sympathetic to the goals of the president and allowed him to put these laws into place.

Unfortunately when the status quo in Congress changed, it was too late to stop what had already been done.

One of the main aspects about the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judiciary branch is that they are all supposed to keep each other from running wild. They are set up to be a series of checks and balances.

Abuse

Any time an individual is given power, there is a risk that the power may be abused.

When the wrong person has power, they will stretch it to its limits, instead of holding it in reserve.

They will use their power freely until they are stopped. In American government, each branch is supposed to stop the other if they are abusing their power.

When you think about the executive branch, the most recent and blatant abuse of power has been by President G.W. Bush.

He effectively took away the rights of the citizens of America.

He has created laws which allow people to be imprisoned for indefinite amounts of time.

He has made it legal for law enforcement agencies to do illegal things. They can tap your phones, or check your internet with no warrants.

They can watch which books you get at the library or buy at the book store.

The laws which are allowing these thing to happen go against the Constitution of the United States.