The US President: An Elected Monarch

The American President has the following powers (some with the "advice and consent" of Congress):

a) Propose legislation
b) Pardon felons
c) Issue edicts ("executive orders")
d) Conduct foreign policy and make Treaties with foreign powers
e) Veto or adopt legislation passed by either or both Houses of Congress
f) Appoint Officers of the State
g) Act as Commander in Chief of the armed forces

This makes the American President an eighteenth century King in all but name.

When the Founders of the United States composed the Constitution, they had a problem: How were the Powers of the State to be exercised, and by whom? The models of governance that they knew all had Rulers. A Ruler is both Head of State and Head of Government. Since the Founders knew that Rulers tended to morph into Tyrants, they saw their problem as that of limiting the power of the Ruler. And since the popular assemblies tended to replace law with current popular prejudice, they had to limit the power of Congress. And since Judges could make arbitrary rulings, they had to limit the powers of the Court. Hence the "three-legged stool", in which  Congress (which represented the People), the Supreme Court (which represented the Law), and the President (who represented the State) were set up to limit each other's powers.

So far, it's worked quite well. But as Mr Trump's Presidency shows, there was a weakness: The Constitution combines the roles of Head of Government and Head of State. This gives a rogue President the ability to ignore the checks on his power, especially when a political party sees him as an agent or instrument of their special agenda. No Ruler has ever been willing to be a mere instrument of some constituency, although they have been more than willing to use that constituency to acquire and consolidate power..

The irony is that while the Founders erected a Republic with an elected monarch, the hereditary monarch of the United Kingdom had already lost almost all the powers of a King. The  Declaration of Independence refers to the tyranny of the King, but it was Parliament that denied the Colonies their rights. It was Parliament, controlled by landowners and merchants, that saw the Colonies as both a source of raw materials and a market for their surplus goods. That  these factions were developing a party-controlled Parliament could also have served the Founders as warning. The Constitution makes no mention of political parties, and hence contains no mechanisms for controlling them.

The final accountability in America rests with the People, who every four years must elect their President, legislators, and other officers of government. In the long run, the People will choose freedom and responsibility, but in the short run they will often choose oppression and  licence.