Do any of you buy into the theory that the President of the United States

[ej510]

has limited power, because the power structure has the majority of it and anyone who challenges that power gets assassinated? This has been a theory for decades, but maybe it's true? I do not know, but what do you guys think?

[Davis_X_Machina]

1. See my sig -- the Mencken quote. n/t

[phantom power]

2. I don't think it's a crazy theory.

I've never been quite sure how one would go about confirming or falsifying it.

[BeFree]

3. Aw c'mon

Everyone knows that that absolute power caters to doing the right thing and furthering democracy for the good of all the people in the world.

[loudsue]

4. LOL.

:rofl: Good one.

[Ghost Dog]

5. Yes.

... over and above the usual congressional limitations, yes... assassinated figuratively or literally, yes.

[NoSheep]

6. To a degree, yes.

[reggie the dog]

7. I think this theory holds true for some presidents more than others

W, was in on it, Carter not so much so, so Carter would have had his hands tied, he would have had a "talking to"....Clinton and Obama I think got talking toos as well.

[Hippo_Tron]

8. No, I don't buy into that theory

The theory I do buy into is that first term presidents prioritize re-election over everything else and that seriously limits their ability to do things since they are accountable to the masses. And the masses are by-in-large idiots who are easily manipulated. In this day and age the interests who support the Republican Party are much better at doing the manipulating especially when it comes to issues of war and peace.

It has been this way ever since Eisenhower and McCarthy. Democrats fear looking weak on defense because the masses are easily manipulated by Republicans into believing that Democrats are weak on defense. That's a large part of this whole Afghanistan equation anyway.

[ej510]

9. Good answer, but I can see where the power structure theory

seems real.

[Hippo_Tron]

10. My theory accounts for the power structure

The power structure doesn't send the president death threats and they don't give him a good "talking to" if he does something they don't like. It's simply implied that if he doesn't do what they want they will spend millions of dollars supporting his opponent in the next election.

[grahamhgreen]

11. There is a high probability that this is true. nt

[onenote]

12. and when did this start?