The Founding Fathers Didn’t Envision This. They Envisioned Congress Doing Its Job.
Ask most Americans what the Founding Fathers wanted, and you will hear something about freedom, liberty, and a strong president who can take charge when things get messy. That story feels comforting. It is also a modern rewrite.
The system the Founders designed put power where arguments live. In Congress. War, spending, trade, domestic force, and the writing of laws were intentionally placed in the legislature. The presidency was designed to execute decisions, not substitute for them. This is why Article I of the United States Constitution is so long. Congress was meant to debate in public, absorb blame, and answer to voters when choices went badly.
What changed was not the Constitution. What changed was Congress.
Over time, lawmakers handed off responsibility piece by piece. Declarations of war gave way to open ended authorizations. Emergency powers were written to renew automatically. Tariff authority was loaned to presidents during political crunches and quietly left there. Each delegation was sold as temporary and practical. None of them were meaningfully reversed. Presidents did not grab these powers. They were handed over by statute.
Now Americans look at a presidency that can initiate military action, declare emergencies, move money, impose tariffs, deploy forces domestically, and make binding international commitments. Many assume this must be what the Founders intended. It is not. It is the result of congressional retreat.
Members of United States Congress still warn about executive overreach. They hold hearings and issue statements. What they rarely do is pass laws that reclaim authority. That would require voting clearly, owning consequences, and explaining tough choices to voters.
TrueNation.us point of view
If a president seems too powerful, the first question should not be about personality or party. It should be about paperwork. Who wrote the law that allowed it. Who declined to repeal it. Who benefits from avoiding a hard vote.
This is not a left or right issue. It is a responsibility issue. Congress does not need a new Constitution, a convention, or a crisis to fix this. It needs to remember that these powers were never taken from it. They were loaned.
The Founding Fathers built a system that depended on friction, rivalry, and accountability. When one branch stops pushing back, the system tilts. Talking about that reality, challenging the myth of the all powerful president, and reminding people where the authority actually lives is how the story gets corrected. Not quietly, but out loud.
