Title: American presidential power is not leading to dictatorship.
Headings: Is America Heading Toward Dictatorship?
Is America Heading Toward Dictatorship?
Presidents have more power today, but there are good historical reasons for the trend.

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Is American democracy doomed? An intellectual tradition going back to the nation’s founding holds that it is. Opponents of the Constitution argued that it would create a national dictatorship, and while they lost the founding-era battle, this theme would be carried forward by critics of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, and virtually all other presidents, great or small. So far, the doomsayers have been proven wrong. Yet the end-times feeling is hard to shake. Today, commentators such as Matthew Yglesias point to the polarization of the electorate, the paralysis of Congress, and—most of all—a series of presidential actions that, they argue, are expanding presidential power beyond constitutional bounds. Yale professor Bruce Ackerman believes that, sooner or later, a charismatic extremist will take possession of the Oval Office and, unhampered by checks and balances, implement a fanatical program that damages Americans’ freedoms. Advertisement
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It’s impossible to prove these Cassandras wrong—all empires have fallen, and ours is sure to take its turn eventually. The commentators are also careful not to predict collapse anytime soon;