Outside the Beltway

A political science-y response to the question of whether the system is broken.

Did the debt ceiling debate reveal dysfunctional government?

The constitutional purists in the Tea Party apparently do not understand either bicameralism nor separation of powers.

CA’s budget battles continue.

Dennis Kucinich and nine other Members of Congress are suing the President. They won’t get very far.

Once again, Congressional abdication has led to an Executive Branch power grab.

The 60 day deadline for Presidential discretion under the War Powers Act will expire next week. Congress won’t do anything about it.

An attempt at explaining where I am coming from on in the health care discussion.

Contempt for Congress is an old American tradition. Unfortunately.

President Obama’s signing statement on the allocation of funds to Presidential “czars” sets a potentially dangerous Constitutional precedent.

Once again, President Obama has ignored Candidate Obama’s promises to reign in the Presidential powers assumed by George W. Bush.

Judge Sumi’s TROs arise from a veritable cornucopia of error.

Operation Odyssey Dawn has resurrected the eternal battle over what limits there are, and should be, on the President’s ability to use military force without Congressional authorization.

Republicans won the right to govern Wisconsin. What does that mean for Democrats?

Would returning to indirect election of Senators really have a significant impact on the growth of the Federal Government? Probably not.

Is our Federal system a mere political compromise? Or were the Founding Fathers visionaries with a plan?

In the first entry in this series we looked at a basic question of democratic theory. In this one, we look at whether the EC ever worked as the Framers intended.

A lot of Americans don’t know that the US gained its independence from Great Britain. How can this be? Is it a liberal conspiracy?