THE powers of pardon bestowed on an American president—modelled on those enjoyed by English monarchs in centuries past—are so sweeping and awful that they impose their own discipline on chief executives, or so Alexander Hamilton predicted in Federalist 74. The responsibility of deciding the fate of a fellow-creature will “naturally inspire scrupulousness and caution,” wrote Hamilton. What is more, a president would so “dread” being accused of misusing those powers in a fit of “weakness or connivance”, that he will use them with the utmost “circumspection.”
For all his brilliance, Hamilton could not foresee the election of a president like Donald Trump, for whom acts of unblushing, explicit, crowd-pleasing connivance are a proof of cleverness. Nor could Hamilton guess that partisan factions would one day so divide the republic that a for-profit propaganda industry would cheer on a president for abandoning both scruples and caution.
But that is where America finds itself today. As evidence, consider Mr...Continue reading
Source: United States http://ift.tt/2vxUJDJ
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