James Madison tells us that "It will not be denied that power is of an encroaching nature and that it ought to be effectually restrained from passing the limits assigned to it". The importance of this insight lies in the acknowledgment that the Constitution, as written and approved, was specifically structured to ensure not only a separation of the various powers assigned, but also that no one power would thereby supersede and effectively negate the others. So too, the reason why George Washington was President, and not a King, is that those that were the primary instruments of that rebellion, knew that to put all the power in the hands of just one personage, was thereby the making of a tyranny, which is the very thing that they specifically complained about in regards to King George III.
Now when we fast forward, 250 years or so, we find that it is the Executive branch that under the authority of the President, is seemingly on a path to make sure that the legislative and judicial branches are in the most important matters of the state, irrelevant, thereby signifying that the direction of this nation is thus having the authority of the state under just one person, which lends itself to tyranny and thereby the dismantling of our republican and democratic institutions.
Indeed, history demonstrates to us that it is the Executive branch that has aggrandized onto itself more and more power, and unless the people or their representatives stand up and do something about this, the Constitution will no longer be the effective power of this land at all. We live in an age in which federal governmental power has never been stronger, and the days of State’s rights and things of that general ilk, have been clearly superseded by the federal government, when it comes to that which is of the upmost importance, signifying that what the federal government so demands, it’s going to get, and when that federal government is for all intents and purposes answerable only onto the Executive office, then our Constitution is thereby null, void, and empty of any true purpose.
No doubt, there are plenty of people, in high positions, that prefer an Executive office which has all the authority, because when that is the case, it is far easier to get things done, because there isn’t any distraction or debate to contend with, but whenever the voices of the people and its representatives are silenced, then this is no longer a government, of, for, and by the people, whatsoever. So then, America is at a crossroads, not helped by the fact that those in one particular party seem to favor often having a powerful Executive at the control of this government, because that thereby helps that party to get done what it desires to get done, but in so doing, those that are its representatives have ceded their power and their duty to the Executive office.
In short, it is the nature of power to expand itself, and those who are in a position to check and balance such have a sacred duty to do that very thing, and their failure to do so has serious consequences for the people of this nation, which will reverberate through the ages.