system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: No matter which person gets elected as president, they will not be able to make any major changes to the U.S. because of the checks and balances system along with gridlock.
gpt
I would argue that it isn't as much because of *checks and balances* per se, but because of the powers allocated to the president. People across America (especially on the internet) are always calling out that the President didn't do x, or didn't do enough to stop y. But what most people fail to realize is that, as the Constitution is written, the executive branch is intended to be the smallest, least powerful branch. Ultimately, the President can really only sign/veto laws and carry out existing laws. That's not a lot of power-- the President can't singlehandedly legalize marijuana. Sure there's a lot of steps the President could take, but most change has to come from Congress-- that's why periods of huge change in America (say, the progressives in early 1900s, the New Deal era, the conservative revolution of the 80s) all come about when there is a shift large enough to put a large majority of one party in Congress.