Sig Nordal

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  is a statement and an observation from John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Action.

Sir John Dalberg-Action’s was writing from the perspective of historian and politician as well as writer. He understood the lessons of history regarding the use and abuse of power by those with power.

The founding fathers, in an effort to escape the European models and their inevitable fall into the hands of those with an excess of power, deliberately created a system of government divided into three separate branches: The Congress, The Supreme Court, and The Presidency. By ensuring that all three branches and those operating within those branches were accountable to the people and to one another, they eliminated the chance of any one branch becoming too powerful and unaccountable.

Today we take for granted that any one person can be elected to two terms as president at the most. But surprisingly, it was long a matter of custom and not a ratified amendment until February 27^th, 1951. This long held tradition was perhaps upheld in respect to the ideas of liberty and democracy and a matter of pride in a government that held itself as the opposite of all the horrors of despotism witnessed throughout history.

The 22^nd Amendment mandates – “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.”

By limiting the number of terms that any one person could run for the office of president the idea that America would ever be subjected to a ‘would-be king’ or a ‘president for life’ was soundly rejected.

For over 200 years the American system of government has operated as it was intended. The reins of power have been passed peacefully, though often contentiously. Indeed, it is one of the most peaceful and orderly systems of federal administration in the history of the world.