Sam+B.

Samuel Butler Period 2 Civics Mr. Fryberger Bush Administration After watching the Dick Chaney documentary and being fully informed about the events leading up to and immediately following the terroristic attack on the twin towers, I feel that the president’s actions, policies, and ideals were not constitutional. More importantly I think that Chaney played a huge role in these decisions. I think that the president felt that the nation needed a more powerful leader to create change and fight the necessary battle. Although Bush’s actions were unconstitutional he had ethical and moral reason to defend his motives. The techniques of interrogation needed in order to fight the enemy that the nation was now facing was reasonable and followed the guidelines of the constitution because it states, in the preamble, that it is our government’s job to provide for the common defense and ensure domestic tranquility. That means if interrogating enemy prisoners of war or captured terrorists in harsh and controversially inhuman ways then that is what they must do in order to protect the civilians of our nation from foreign attacks. After congress said no to these tactics Chaney found a way to legalize the techniques of interrogation. When the president decided to spy on international conversations of Americans, also known as the crown jewel operation, he violated our 4th amendment right as a citizen of the United States. Even though he felt he was looking after the greater good Bush crossed the line when he used his presidential power to impose on the privacy of U.S. citizens. The Office of Legal Counsel played a major role in giving the president the power to seemingly enforce policies that he felt was appropriate to protect from terroristic attacks but was also forbidden by congress. John Yoo, referred to as Dr. Yes, gave the executive branch limitless power by singing off on any document asked of him. Dick Chaney, the vice president for George Bush, felt like congress was limiting the president’s executive power as commander and chief of our country and set his career on gaining more executive power for the president. Chaney, being a very secretive person, decided to go to the OLC, to sign off on many documents that congress denied, to authorizing more presidential power. Doing so gives no limit to the powers of the executive branch, which corrupts our government’s whole idea of democracy and federalism. In order for our country to remain at least a partial democracy there must be a system in which each branch is limited to the powers and decision making it holds. The president should not have the power and should not even feel the need to maneuver around congress in order to pass legislation. In conclusion, I believe that the three branches of the government should use the guidelines of the constitution, regarding power and public policy, to determine who is able to create, uphold, and judge decisions made about our country and the actions it will take toward foreign enemies. This means they should be equal with checks and balances that are not able to be avoided or maneuvered around. I do not think that it is necessary to revise these divisions of power nor do I think congress should have any say on the tactics used for defending our nation.