Over 13,000 Executive Orders have been issued since the inception of the United States of America. The most vigorous in issuance was Franklin Roosevelt with 3,728. That’s an average of roughly three hundred and eight per year. Society has become complacent with executive orders with the last six presidents issuing well over two hundred and fifty each, with the exception of George H.W. Bush. Many fear that this is a concerning trend and that executive orders should be issued sparingly. However, the issuance of many executive orders is not a problem, so long as these prescriptions are done for the good of the people.
There has been a decline in executive orders as the standard of the 1930’s and 1940’s was drastically larger than that of today. That time was undoubtedly a moment in our society that was characterized by hardship as the United States faced an immense economic crisis and global war. Many problematic situations arose that had no statutes to amend them. This is where the power of prerogative shines.
In the early days, King George, III exercised a substantial amount of prerogative. This was not problematic, and did not become an issue until the thirteen American colonies felt that the power of prerogative, carried out through parliament or a king and executed through the magistrate, was found to be more harmful to the people than it was good which infringed upon their God-given liberty. It is only heaven to which people can appeal when they feel usurped by a King, President, or Magistrate’s prerogative. God blessed upon man rational faculties and the desire for self-preservation. This lead us to the American Revolutionary War, and the founding of the United States of America. God granted us liberty. Man granted the power of prerogative to his executive, and reserved the right to revoke it should it become harmful to the people. King George, III infringed that liberty, overextending his prerogative, so the people justly revoked it in an effort of self-preservation.
Today, in our society we have self-correcting systems that allow the president’s powers to be checked. We know this as the Supreme Court. This prevents the president from exercising his prerogative in an unconstitutional manner. This is not a perfect system though. Damage can still occur. For example, the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. This was challenged in Korematsu v United States, where the supreme court sided with the Government and found the internment camps to be constitutional. In the end, it really is God who can only be final judge. Let’s say this happened to a different substantial population, such as the Irish, English, or German populations in the US. It is then that we might see the revoking of prerogative, and possibly the dissolution of government. Let’s just call a strike down of a president’s executive order a “mini-revolt.”
It’s not a problem that modern presidents pump out executive orders by the hundreds. We were born free and we bestowed upon our chosen leader the power to make independent decisions should they serve the interests of the people. We do this with the knowledge that should he or she ere in their ways that we have a right to revoke their prerogative; sometimes through our courts, and other times by taking up arms. People, as rational beings, must be fairly content with the latest batch of executive orders as they have only opted to have their issues with them resolved peacefully through the courts…at least since 1776 anyway.
See Also: https://qz.com/899741/how-many-executive-orders-has-donald-trump-signed-compared-to-barack-obama/