Could Dick Cheney be any worse? Really?

He tries so hard; I have to give him credit.

Before he was even in office, he was negotiating with Big Oil and Big Energy (Enron, anybody) for sweetheart deals in the form of the big Energy Bill. And the people that called President Clinton ‘Slick Willie’ love this guy. The president, trying to save his own skin, that parsed the phrase “sexual relations” was demonized and despised. But Dick, oh Sweet Dick…

We all know that Cheney doesn’t think he’s part of the Executive Branch. That’s no big surprise because no one in the White House seems to have even read the Constitution. They don’t seem to recognize the checks and balances inherent in the Constitution. Reading the roles of Congress and of the president here you can see that there is a major discrepancy with the way it is being operated today and what the Constitution actually says:

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

Clearly, the Legislative Branch has more than the so-called “power of the purse”. It makes war. It makes peace. It is responsible for the military.

And all that it says in Article II about the military and the President’s role:

The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States;

That’s it. That’s all. Commander in Chief is a title only used in reference to the military. It is a title that only refers to his/her place in the military chain of command. This still doesn’t even say that s/he runs military action, or if s/he does, that s/he made the plans that are being carried out. It doesn’t say anything above the Congress, nor does it say anything about supreme, unchecked power. Reading the remaining statutes in Article II reveal a great deal about the relationship between the President and Congress:

He shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur…

…but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.

He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union, and recommend to their Consideration such Measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient…

Clearly, the president not only has to work with Congress, but s/he must be responsible to Congress. Look at the first one. The Congress is still responsible for the government of the United States and how it relates to the world, but they may authorize the president to make treaties WITH consent afterward. The second is the same. The Congress may give the authority away. The President also must go to the Congress to inform them about the country and recommend to their Consideration—this is not a Commander’s role or one that is free of checks and balances!

But it is Cheney that, in this light, refutes his place in the government. His job description is described in Article II. His election and position in the government is described there. Everything is there except one line: “The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.” That is his basis for calling himself "a unique creature" on national television. One line in Article I (Legislative Branch). What a stooge. He is clearly part of the Executive Branch; read Section 4 of Article II:

Section. 4. The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

The means of removal of the VP wouldn’t be placed in Article II (Executive Branch), if he were not part of that branch. If he were truly “a unique creature”, then the Vice President’s office would have been Article III, shifting the Judicial Branch down to a new Article IV. But it isn’t that way. Three branches. And no matter how much Cheney tries to obfuscate the roles of his office, it doesn’t change the fact that he is operating in a way that is not befitting of his place in government, as representative of the people, or as a decent American. It’s about time that we hold our government accountable.