Reply #87: No, you made my argument for me regarding 'sharing of powers'... [View All]

[Blackhatjack]

My link is to the US Constitution itself. I gave you an example of shared powers.

Separation of powers was the framers' solution to the unbridled absolute power of the King of England. Having three separate branches of government does provide checks and balances between the three branches. However the overlap in function is there, as is acknowledged in the source you quoted: "No democratic system exists with an absolute separation of powers or an absolute lack of separation of powers."

We have a constitution which can be reduced in legible print to just a few pages, and it has been hailed as a living document because it does not attempt to address every possible fact scenario. (A quick review of many Latin American constitutions will reveal unwieldy constitutions, many a half inch thick or more.)

I will give you another example of shared power: The Constitution gives the Legislative Branch the power to enact laws that are constitutional, and it gives the Judicial Branch the power to review those laws and determine which laws are unconstitutional. There is a shared power among the two branches to eliminate unconstitutional laws, but exercised in different ways.