Bob Higgs, in his excellent Crisis and Leviathan, points out that during crises (almost always caused by government) the government will become stronger. That is true, but the real issue is that the executive branch generally grabs most of that power, as frightened people want action NOW, and the presidency seems to be qualified to act quickly, versus the slower, deliberating Congress.

The choice of Rahm Emmanuel to be Obama’s point man in the new administration sends the clear message that Congress will become even more subservient to the executive branch. The process that started in 1861 and then really moved during the Progressive Era, World War I, and the Great Depression, will move again with great speed.

Ironically, the coming power grab (of what is left of the legislative branch) by Obama will be done in the name of moderation:

Pollster Doug Schoen, who helped Bill Clinton win re-election in 1996 over overwhelming odds after the 1994 Democratic debacle, recently warned in a Journal op-ed: “If the Democrats govern as if there is no Republican Party, they are likely headed to the kind of reaction that Bill Clinton faced when he made the same misjudgment after the 1992 election victory.” Mr. Schoen cites specifically a meeting in Little Rock after the election with Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell and House Speaker Tom Foley, when Mr. Clinton agreed to defer to Congress on key elements of his legislative agenda. The subsequent lurch to the left did incalculable damage to his presidency.

That may be one reason why Mr. Obama has chosen Rahm Emanuel, a respected member of the Congressional leadership, to become his new White House Chief of Staff. Mr. Emanuel has a reputation as a tough partisan, but he has also exhibited impatience with left-wing members of his party who have overly ambitious ideological agendas. A likely first assignment for Mr. Emanuel will be reminding House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid that, after only two years of Democratic control, Congress already has a lower approval rating than even President Bush’s.

To the extent Mr. Obama becomes a successful president, it will be because he remains his own man and trusts the brilliant political instincts that have gotten him this far, this fast.

You have to appreciate the irony of this. We are to view the presidency as the agency that moderates the reckless nature of Congress, just as we are supposed to view the courts as the last line of defense against the predations of Congress and the president.

The framers of the U.S. Constitution saw Congress as the leader, not the presidency and certainly not the courts. Lew Rockwell has been one of the few people I have read who understands that the real blow to freedom has been through the growth of the executive branch. With Obama being hailed as a proto-Messiah by many, and with real crises on the horizon, his administration will be grabbing what is left of the powers delegated to Congress.

It is quite clear to me that Obama sees Congress simply as a mechanism to rubber-stamp his own agenda. The Messianic theme of his campaign and the worshipful way he is treated in the media will mean that anyone who objects to his presidency is going to be treated quite harshly.