When the buck stops with POTUS people lose

Pres. Harry Truman made the phrase, “the buck stops here” famous. Pres. Obama has
embraced a similar stance with his often used “the buck stops with me” line. Every
president between Truman and Obama have told the people the POTUS (President of the
United States) is where the buck stops when it comes to many situations such as natural
disasters, man created disasters, economic challenges, environmental concerns, and
more.

According to the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum the phrase was embraced by
Truman when he received a sign for his desk. The library website shares the following
story;

The sign "The Buck Stops Here" that was on President Truman's desk in his White House
office was made in the Federal Reformatory at El Reno, Oklahoma. Fred M. Canfil, then
United States Marshal for the Western District of Missouri and a friend of Mr. Truman, saw
a similar sign while visiting the Reformatory and asked the Warden if a sign like it could be
made for President Truman. The sign was made and mailed to the President on October 2,
1945. (“The Buck Stops Here” Desk Sign)

Coming out of World War II Americans were ready to embrace this message. From the
time of Teddy Roosevelt’s Bully Pulpit we have been taught our POTUS is the center of
government for the people. “By the postwar era, Washington’s humble term “chief
magistrate” could no longer adequately describe an office that in power and
responsibility had expanded far beyond Hamiltonian hopes or Jeffersonian fears.” (Healy,
The Cult of the Presidency, 2008, p. 79)

History shows presidential power increased through usurpation during times of war.
Both Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt knew many of their decisions were beyond their
constitutional authority. The framers of the U.S. Constitution placed most of the power
in the Legislative Branch while far less power was conferred upon the Executive Branch.
Perhaps they embraced the ides of executive prerogrative during emergencies as
supported by John Locke.

But since a rational creature cannot be supposed, when free, to put himself in subjection
of another, for his own harm; (though where he finds a good and wise ruler, he may not
perhaps think it either necessary or useful to set precise bounds to his power in all things)
prerogative can be nothing, but the Peoples permitting their Rulers, to do several things of
their own free choice, where the law was silent, and sometimes too against the direct
Letter of the Law for the publick good; and their acquiesing in it when so done… (Locke,
Two Tretise on Government, London, 1821, p. 332)

Truman began a precedent of sending troops into harm’s way without requesting
Congress to declare war by sending troops to the Korean Peninsula. On the heels of this
usurpation Americans were faced with a threat of attack during the Cold War.
Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon all helped the Executive Branch gain more
power. By 1973 the power of the presidency had grown to a point Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.
wrote a book entitled The Imperial Presidency. With the advent of Watergate and the
resignation of Pres. Richard Nixon many felt the usurped powers were no longer going to
be allowed. Congressional authority briefly came back into vogue. People lost hope
there was one man they could turn to and rely on to solve their daily needs.
Constitutional checks and balances were nearly restored when it came to the Legislative
and Executive Branches of the federal government.

We then experienced the Iran hostage crisis and the rise of Ronald Reagan’s appeal to
patriotism. International crisis has always been a key ingredient for Americans accepting
an abuse of presidential power. A charismatic leader combined with an external threat
equaled a resurgence of the Imperial President. “What began as emergency powers
temporarily confided to presidents soon hardened into authority claimed by presidents
as constitutionally inherent in the presidential office; thus the Imperial Presidency...The
rise of the Imperial Presidency ran against the original intent of the Constitution.”
(Schlesinger, The Imperial Presidency, 2004, p. x)

The original intent was to distribute power with the Legislative Branch, the people’s
branch, having responsibility for war, appropriations, the regulation of commerce, and
more based on the limited powers agreed upon by the several states. States were to
retain power over daily concerns for life, liberty, and property based on the agreements
between the citizens of each state and their governing officials under their state
constitutions.

Today there are many crises both internationally as well as nationally. The growth of
usurped power through appointment of czars, executive orders and signing statements
shows a systemic challenge growing between the Executive Branch, the Legislative
Branch, and the Constitution. Modern imperialism began in the latter days of the Clinton
administration, elevated to new levels with Bush, Cheney and the War on Terror, and is
rising to even greater heights under the Obama Administration.

As Gene Healy writes, “If the public expects the president to deal with all national
problems, physical or spiritual, then the president will seek – or seize – the power
necessary to handle that responsibility. We’re right to fear the growth of presidential
power. But the Imperial Presidency is the price of making the office the focus of our
national hopes and dreams.” (Healy, 2009, p. 3)

This belief by the people will become the path progressives will accept for the final
destruction of constitutional order in our country. Today we the people are so accepting
of the notion it is the president’s job to handle all areas from the economy to health
care; from natural and manmade disasters to the defense of democracy around the
world we do so without notice. Conservatives are as willing to turn to the president as
liberals are. A self-governing society cannot sustain liberty if it willfully, unconsciously
gives away personal responsibility to a single person or the few people a president says
society should trust.

The buck cannot continue to stop with the president if we the people are to maintain
freedom under a federalist republic. As long as we embrace the notion we are a
representative democracy and our federal government, especially our president, should
do more for us than our state, local, or personal government we are doomed to repeat
histories’ lesson. Representative democracy gives way to despotic rule and does so
often to the applause of the many despite the fears and resistance of a few. To restore
federalism the buck stops at the lowest level possible. In many instances that will mean
the buck stops with you and me. It is time for us to decide; where should the buck stop?