Could it happen here? Could a democratically elected leader come to rule us as an autocrat? Citizens of a free society can never lose sight of this question, and—however complacent many of us have become—the election of Donald Trump has shoved it back out to center stage.
“A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government,” James Madison observed in The Federalist Papers, “but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.” These precautions are the separation of powers and checks and balances, enshrined in the Constitution. Citizens concerned about tyranny from the leaders they have elected must depend on the other branches of government to defend the republic.
In particular, the public must rely on Congress, the branch of government that Madison felt “necessarily predominates,” given its proximity to the people. Moreover, Article I of the Constitution vests in Congress “all legislative Powers herein granted,” as well as ample implied powers of oversight, and the power of impeachment should that become necessary. If a strongman government ever takes root in America, it will not be simply because we elected a president determined to establish it, but because Congress acquiesced in his designs.
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