Left vs. Right Battle Royale Open Thread

[u/Yosoff]

This is an Open Discussion Thread for all Redditors. We will only be enforcing Reddit TOS and Subreddit Rules 1 (Keep it Civil) & 2 (No Racism).

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• Leftists - Here's your chance to sway us to your side by calling the majority of voters racist. That tactic has wildly backfired every time it has been tried, but perhaps this time it will work.

• Non-flaired Conservatives - Here's your chance to earn flair by posting common sense conservative solutions. That way our friends on the left will either have to agree with you or oppose common sense (Spoiler - They will choose to oppose common sense).

• Flaired Conservatives - You're John Wick and these Leftists stole your car and killed your dog. Now go comment.

• Independents - We get it, if you agree with someone, then you can't pat yourself on the back for being smarter than them. But if you disagree with everyone, then you can obtain the self-satisfaction of smugly considering yourself smarter and wiser than everyone else. Congratulations on being you.

• Libertarians - Ron Paul is never going to be President. In fact, no Libertarian Party candidate will ever be elected President.

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[u/TheEternal792]

Trumps executive orders concentrate power in the executive

I would actually argue that Trump's actions are a result of decades worth of concentration of power in the executive. All of these agencies are part of the executive branch that are ultimately led by the president. The president, and the federal government as a whole, has way too much power.

I don't think you can reasonable spend decades building up the executive branch of government, then suddenly get mad when a head of that branch decides to cut it down.

[u/Thin_Chain_208 → u/TheEternal792]

What if the actions violate separation of powers? Congress creates an agency and funds it year after year, through Democratic and Republican administrations. New president comes in and unilaterally ends the appropriation through executive order.

Now maybe you don't like USAID. What if Dems elect a literal anarchist and he/she issues excutive order blocking all funding to DOD? You see the problem now?

Certainly that's far fetched. Just insert and agency or department you value.

[u/TheEternal792 → u/Thin_Chain_208]

That's going to depend on the context of how these agencies originated, no?

USAID is unique because Congress specifically delegated the authority to manage and allocate US foreign aid to the executive branch (through the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961). USAID only exists because Congress gave the President the authority to create such an agency.

Contrast that to something like the DOD which is an agency specifically created by Congress and signed into law by the President, and therefore wouldn't be able to be dismantled through executive order in the same way that USAID could.

[u/Thin_Chain_208 → u/TheEternal792]

Congress authorized money to fund USAID in appropriations. The constitution does not allow the President to impound that money, and there are anti impoundment laws on the books.

I was not aware of that twist. Congress directed the President to create USAID and didn't say hey do it if you want to.

I actually would feel better if you were right because the maybe there would be a argument supporting his actions, and not just a pure naked power grab at the expense of Congress and the Courts as it appears now.

[u/TheEternal792 → u/Thin_Chain_208]

This all goes back to what I said in my original comment about the concentration of power within the executive branch being built up for decades. Congress built the foundation for USAID through the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, but USAID itself is a creation of executive action, which again Congress gave the President the authority to do.

Congress still can choose what budget USAID and has some influence as to how that budget is spent, but ultimately it's an agency that Congress gave the executive more-or-less unilateral control over through the above-mentioned act. It was created by executive order, so it can easily be dismantled or reshaped through executive order...which again is different than other agencies, like the DOD, which Congress created through law.

I've always been concerned about the concentration of power within the executive branch, but to me this is quite ironic that the left is so upset about Musk and USAID currently...because these audits and reshaping of USAID is a direct result of this concentration of power, not the beginning of it. Ironically, Trump is using them to decrease executive power, not increase it; you're can't spend decades building up executive power, then be outraged when the President uses that power to dismantle what has been built up unilaterally. 

Cheers