[WhyNotHugo]

> the US president is allowed to bypass Congress.

This is the key difference between presidential system and parliamentary system. In a parliamentary system, the head of state answers to the parliament. In a presidential system, the presidents answers to no-one (technically they answer to the people, but in practice that's inconsequential).

[krapp]

Strictly speaking, in the US system the President isn't allowed to bypass Congress. Congress makes the laws and sets the budget and the President is suppose to execute on what Congress decides, which is ostensibly supposed to reflect the will of the people. Even executive orders can't override existing law or the Constitution. The President isn't supposed to be able to go to war without Congressional approval. The three branches of government are supposed to be equal and mutually oppositional in their power.

The (im)balance of power we have now is very much not what was originally intended, but it can only persist because Congress and the Supreme Court are complicit in granting the Executive near absolute authority, which is only being kept in check at the moment by lower courts.