The Unitary Executive theory is the most ridiculous stuff, but it informs a lot about what we are seeing in this new administration. The Federalist Society who has pushed this theory the most gets its name from early America and from a man who wanted the President to be more of an elected-for-life position that was more akin to the king the colonists had overthrown only a few years prior.

With Trump declaring a blatantly unconstitutional funding freeze, he is testing the limits of what Congress will allow him to get away with and how far they will let this "theory" play out. Trump simply wants power and he wants attention.

If you strip those things away from him and if the rest of the federal and the several states' governments show that he is limited to what the Constitution allows, he will be just another President; awful, but tamed by the rule of law.

Without the rule of law, he becomes a dictator where whatever he says becomes truth. This is one of the many reasons the unitary executive theory is so dangerous. To allow this theory to prevail means that anyone with an opinion different than the chief executive will be fired.

Governments cannot and should not be run by one political party, let alone one person. James Madison, one of the chief authors of the Constitution, argued for it by stating that our government would be able to persist because of differing factions. These factions would need to come together and compromise in order to achieve any goal.

#Trump #USPol

Finally reading Jeff Kosseff's "Fire in a Crowded Theater" and loving it!! Only in chapter 1 right now where he talks about the "marketplace of ideas" framework for understanding First Amendment rights and is actually talking about its problems!

I've never liked that framework, but Kosseff is talking about it in a great way and is pulling in realties of the difficulties of being able to participate in the marketplace and also break through people's preconceived notions.

I'm also reminded that the Supreme Court Justices can sometimes forget that regular citizens sometimes don't understand these concepts. I agree that people should have the freedom to figure it out, but these things need to be taken into account.

#SupremeCourt #FirstAmendment

Got the WV Berkeley County Dems account set up on BlueSky and bridged to the fediverse! Slow going, but am still thinking about setting up a dedicated fediverse account. Give them a follow and let me know what kind of things you might want to see the account post about!

@berkeleycowvdems.bsky.social