Biblical Citizenship Week 6

By Nancy Murray

Article II defines the executive powers of the President of the United States. His most important duty is to ensure that the laws are faithfully executed, by doing so, he ensures we are a country of laws and not of men.

The President is elected by the electoral college and not by popular vote. This was the brainchild of the Founding Fathers, to make sure every state and every citizen has an equal voice in selecting the President. If the President were elected by the popular vote, only the big cities would elect the president. Thomas Jefferson is quoted as saying “I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the health, and the liberties of man.”

The National Popular Vote (NPV), of which Colorado is a member, wants a pure democracy, allocating electoral votes for a state to the winner of the popular vote. Only blue states are members of the NPV, but they do not control enough electoral college votes to change the results of an election. It isn’t clear if states will pull out of the NPV after President Trump won the popular vote in 2024.

John Adams is quoted as saying “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”

Executive Orders (EO) were first executed by President Washington and are Constitutional if they are executing a law that Congress has actually passed. As of May 6^th, President Trump (47) has signed 147 EOs. President Biden autopen signed many EOs that were questionable and challenged in the courts because they were unlawful. The most egregious was his EO on eliminating government student loans for some people. This was never a law passed by Congress.

According to Article II, section 2, the President also has the power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of Impeachment. 

Article III addresses the Judiciary of the United States. The Declaration of Independence identified four grievances against the King’s judiciary. The Founding Fathers knew that the powers of the Judicial Branch needed to be limited, in fact, it is the weakest of the three branches of government. 

We often hear that the three branches are co-equal, when in fact they are not. Congress is determined to be the most powerful, having the ability to define laws, but today’s two-party system slows the process down. The Executive Branch is the second most powerful branch with the Judiciary the least powerful and defined by just six paragraphs in the Constitution.