I agree we need more checks and balances to power grabs, but the people in charge want less bc they claim it only prevents them from doing what needs to be done to help Americans.
“Your life would be so much better off if we could just cut through all this red tape. It’s not the tariffs that are destroying the economy, it’s the regulations that are keeping change from happening.”
Soon it will be “You’re starving and your children are dying, because of red tape. These judges blocking my orders are screwing everything up. If you want things to get better, we must remove the corrupt judges that are hindering progress.”
timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
I mean, it’s obviously a terrible system.
But as a caveat, he was elected. You vote for a ticket and he’s on that ticket.
AcidicBasicGlitch@lemm.ee 4 days ago
It definitely would be nice to have more voter involvement in VP and cabinet picks.
I feel like even if people couldn’t be motivated to vote against Trump in the election, it would have been a lot easier to unify people to vote against someone like RFK Jr. for health secretary.
If we can never have any choice other than a 2 party system of Republican and Democrat, maybe we could at least start having something like a mixed cabinet, so that the policies and mandates being created are more representative of different ideas on different issues instead of any single ideology.
Initiateofthevoid@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 days ago
I genuinely don’t mean to be snarky here, I promise. I’m sorry to say that you’re literally reinventing congress. The executive branch has become so bloated and overpowered that it sounds reasonable to hold elections for the Cabinet, because it is a group of people that write the policies of the US government. But that just further entrenches the Executive as the central source of power and policy.
The more appropriate and democratic response is to dramatically downsize the power of the presidency. The only reason Trump is able to do so much damage is because Congress gave the presidency in general most of that power and now specifically refuses to take it away from a senile criminal narcissist.
The executive has only grown so large because the parties constantly use the Presidency as a scapegoat and a sledgehammer when it should be a figurehead and a scalpel.
AcidicBasicGlitch@lemm.ee 3 days ago
I don’t think it’s snarky. I agree with you, but also because I really have no faith in elected representatives doing what they’re supposed to.
Specifically, this election and the Senate confirmation hearings are what make me say I wish we could have more say in cabinet positions.
I’m in Louisiana and one of my senators was literally the deciding vote for RFK’s fitness. It sounds naive now but I actually had faith he would do the right thing. Even though he’s a Republican, he’s also a doctor. He’s spoken out in the past about supporting vaccines and stood up to Republicans on the issue.
I watched the hearings and heard RFK say things I know my senator disagrees with. Many people in Louisiana, including myself, wrote him an email saying we were glad to have someone like him in the position to make such an important decision. Yet, he decided to fall in line with his party even though he had every reason not to.
Since we can’t trust elected officials to be the safeguard they’re supposed to be, I think we should have more say in who actually gets selected for cabinet positions.
I don’t think it’s a good idea to let a president pick his cabinet. I feel like allowing people to select at least a list of candidates for the president to select a cabinet member from would be an ok compromise.
If this country actually survives this apocalyptic BS which is a giant fucking question mark, whoever the next president is, will need to be willing to actually fight for this country without giving a fuck about re-election or pleasing donors.
I don’t know if the answer is to pack the court or to just pressure the shit out of the judges to do the right thing, but we all should have revolted when citizens United happened. I don’t think anyone really understood a group of billionaires that have been thirsting for power for decades could take advantage the way they have, but that’s on us and now we are definitely paying the consequences.
If they can overturn Roe V. Wade when so many Americans were actually against the decision, they can overturn citizens United, and we should be raising hell until they do.