Why Congress must rein in the modern presidency
If there is one theme that has shaped recent American politics, it is the steady concentration of power in the presidency. Congress — under both parties — has repeatedly delegated authority that was never meant to rest in a single office. The consequences are now impossible to ignore. The actions of President Donald Trump reveal how fragile our liberties become when one person holds too much power.
Consider immigration. Peaceful immigrants — individuals working, studying and complying with government procedures — have been met with armed and masked ICE agents conducting raids in neighborhoods and workplaces. In some cases, people were arrested while attempting to follow the very rules the government demands they obey. This is not how a free society treats those trying to build better lives. It demonstrates what happens when enforcement power becomes untethered from basic respect for human dignity.
The same pattern appears in the administration’s approach to higher education. Universities, including private institutions that should be beyond federal political pressure, have been targeted for educating foreign students and for the ideas they teach. The push for “patriotic education,” along with efforts to pressure programs such as the Duke-UNC Middle East studies consortium to alter their curricula, exemplify attempts to dictate academic content. The China Initiative further chilled research through aggressive federal scrutiny disconnected from scholars’ actual work. And this year’s decision by Homeland Security to revoke Harvard’s ability to enroll international students shows that the government’s willingness to interfere in academic life has only intensified. Government has no legitimate role in determining which ideas may be explored or who may pursue an education.
Foreign policy offers no more comfort. Despite campaign rhetoric promising a break from interventionism, President Trump has continued to deploy American forces abroad and order lethal military strikes — including two recent attacks on vessels in the Caribbean that killed more than two dozen Venezuelans who were suspected of transporting drugs, with the second strike reportedly hitting survivors. These killings occurred without congressional authorization. This should not be tolerated by Congress, by the courts or by anyone who cares about liberty, freedom or due process. Rather than reducing America’s military footprint, the president has expanded the use of force on his own authority and embraced the pageantry of military parades more typical of authoritarian governments. Instead of winding down conflicts, he has escalated the war on drugs and used it as justification for international meddling and tariffs.
Domestically, we have witnessed the president deploy National Guard units into American cities despite explicit opposition from governors and mayors. Federal force should never substitute for local governance. When Washington claims authority to police communities that do not want its presence, the balance between federal and state power is distorted in ways the framers sought to prevent.
Equally troubling are the president’s remarks about annexing territories belonging to friendly nations such as Canada, Denmark and Panama. Even if made casually, such statements display a cavalier attitude toward sovereignty and self-determination — principles essential to peaceful international relations.
Economic policy has fared no better. The administration’s tariffs and trade restrictions have interfered with voluntary exchange, raising prices, disrupting supply chains and generating uncertainty for consumers and entrepreneurs. Free trade is not merely an economic principle; it is an extension of individual liberty.
Meanwhile, federal spending has grown dramatically. Promises to reduce the size of government were not matched by action on the major drivers of national debt. At the same time, the president has taken unprecedented steps to politicize the Federal Reserve — publicly pressuring it to cut rates for political benefit and exploring the removal or demotion of the Fed chair for resisting White House preferences. Allowing monetary policy to hinge on presidential influence only magnifies the risks inherent in an already flawed system.
Finally, the use of the presidential platform to mock or demean segments of the American population, including sexual minorities, has fostered unnecessary division and encouraged government to intrude further into private life. A nation committed to liberty does not elevate leaders who pit Americans against one another.
No president — Republican, Democrat or otherwise — should have the ability to reshape domestic life, foreign policy or the economy based on personal impulse. If Congress truly serves the people, it will reclaim its authority and ensure that no president ever wields such broad power again.
Mimi Robson is treasurer and past chair for the Libertarian Party of California.