What I genuinely fail to wrap my head around is this: how can anyone, even a President, in a so-called democratic nation, issue decrees, whether one or a hundred, that are instantly converted into law? Sure, they might be pending some symbolic approval by other elected representatives, but still, the audacity of it is astounding. And if that is not baffling enough, how can a new President, fresh into the seat, with a flourish of a pen, nullify those very decrees by his predecessor, equally instantaneously, as though wiping the slate clean on a whim?
Wasn’t the entire War of Independence fought over representation? You know, “no taxation without representation,” and all that? Yet here we are, watching the POTUS act as some sort of modern-day monarch. A single person, decreeing policies that affect millions even going so far as to take away their identities and jeopardise future citizens, without a whisper of debate, a vote, or even the burden of explanation.
The worse part is that there is a real fear in the outgoing administration that people who worked for it (even at the highest levels) and their families are now at a real risk of prison, and hence, need pre-emptive pardoning. Which brings me to the question: Can the new President not cancel the pardons issued by his predecessor? I mean, if he can cancel everything else, why not this? What next? Blinding the past President? Maiming his offspring? Killing the current President’s siblings? I mean, in for a penny…
Tell me, how is this any different from the King of England, circa 1776, or any other potentate of the Middle Ages? The only noticeable difference seems to be the accent. Still a single man, deciding the fate of tens of millions of people from a glorified throne.
I’d be utterly horrified if something like this were to happen in India.
Oh, wait. Scratch that last sentence. I seem to have forgotten what country I live in. My bad. I’m an idiot.
