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PaperclipPerfector  2mo ago (text post)   34887 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 17, 2025

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Regarding the latest executive order re: independent agencies, I'm struggling to understand why conservatives might think this is a good idea long term. Is the plan to just never lose/hold an election again? It seems like trump is massively expanding the scope of executive power versus judicial/legislative power to the point where any president with more than 41 votes in the senate can do essentially whatever they want, with the sole exception of raising non-tariff taxes. Given that its easier to create than to destroy [edit: this was a type, I meant "easier to destroy than to create"], that's of course a benefit for anti-welfare conservatives... but direct presidential command over regulation combined with the stance that the president is beholden to nothing but the supreme court seems like a perfect recipe for vindictive actions against corporations and industries that the president doesn't like. And considering the next democratic president is probably going to look much more like the bernie wing of the party than the obama/biden wing of the party, that's a recipe for economic disaster.

Necessary disclaimer: I'm a trump-hating neoliberal.

If it will empower a Democrat president, the Democrat president could have just passed a similar order. Not a big deal.

That kind of reasoning legitimizes literally anything.

Perhaps.

Perhaps people have heard many years of fearmongering about Trump breaking norms while observing his opposition actually break norms "because Trump."

Trumps EO on so called "independent agencies" rests on solid constitutional footing, as the constitution does not contemplate such a thing. Congress, if it is upset with his EO, can repeal the acts creating said agencies OR file suit and petition the courts to declare them unconstitutional (which they very likely are).

Yes, it's called "democracy." Vox populi, vox dei. Or something.

Anything is legitimate if people believe it is.

Given the previous POTUS tried to change the constitution unilaterally, I think America is well past the point where this is a valid objection in practice.

The only question is whether it'll work.

I mean, his username is sulla.

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