ingres@ucbcad.UUCP (08/28/83)
#R:olivea:-11400:ucbcad:26400001:000:2762 ucbcad!ingres Aug 25 22:27:00 1983 Sorry about this. Once more, a message didn't get out, so if you see this twice... To claim that O'Neil, as Speaker of the House, is the most powerful man in the country is horsecookies. He was elected to his position as a member of the House by the people of one district in Massachusetts, a disrict with probably about the same population as yours. He was elected to his position as Speaker by the other elected Representatives. In his capacity as Chair of the House of Representatives, he does (as does every other parlimentary chair) have the ability to somewhat limit debate. Also, he has as Speaker, the authority to greatly impede the progress of a bill. Now, let us look at others in the government The President not voted for by most citizens. He (O, to have the historical backing to say "he or she"!) is elected by representatives (elected in state-by-state bunches) in the Electoral College. This means that he is elected, in fact, by 538 people. He has the authority to wipe out legislation entirely (veto, usually subject to override), to pursue foreign policy unilaterally, with only treaties being subject to the Congress (and then only the Senate). He can commit US troops for up to sixty days without consultation with Congress, and even this limit may or may not still be in place. He is Commander in Chief of the armed forces. I will stop here, but you can probably add ten or twenty others yourself. The Supreme Court has the (assumed, but now firmly in place) ability to invalidate laws in part or in whole with no appeal except back to the Supreme Court. In other instances, it can create judicial remedies, such as busing, which enact new programs. It does not, however, have any enforcement power. (This is usually up to the President; yet another to add to the above list.) Then there is Majority Leader of the Senate, who has nearly the same powers as the Speaker of the House. Of course, since he is currently a Republican, he may not be on rabbit!jj's "bad guys" list. In summary, looking over the power structure of the national goverment for the length of half of a high school civics class would let you know that the Speaker of the House is certainly not THE SINGLE MOST POWERFUL PERSON in government. I think one would be hard put to argue anything more than #2, and I would consider that even to be in doubt. And O'Neil is more "elected" than the President; he has to go through two races and is elected by more citizens. Yes the man is powerful. Many people are powerful. It takes power to accomplish good things sometimes, as well as bad. The point of an elective system is that some of the power ends up with the people. Rabbit!jj's comment sounds more like a rant than a thought. Ken Arnold