Executive Power: The Cult of the Presidency with Gene Healy

In this episode Jonathan Fortier talks with Gene Healy about the growth in the scope and power of the office of the American President, and some of the ways that this has negative consequences for political accountability and individual liberty. Healy’s book, The Cult of the Presidency, first published in 2008 by the Cato Institute, will be reissued this coming autumn in advance of the American presidential election. The conversation turns partly on what has changed in the intervening 16 years, but also on a number of other topics, such as the delinquency of Congress in the face of Executive over-​reach, the growth of the administrative state, the influence of technology in presidential reach, the unintended consequences of the presidential race, and much more. Healy’s research and insights are presented with a unique grace and wit that makes this a compelling account of the changes to the nation’s top political position and associated implications for a free society.