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the president is just some idiot that we use for a single-point-of-decision-making and scape goat Call me naive, but I like to think that this is the degenerat

the president is just some idiot that we use for a single-point-of-decision-making and scape goat Call me naive, but I like to think that this is the degenerate state of the office in question. It can be so much more, and not in the "opaque unitary executive" sense for which it has been abused lately.

DanielBMarkham 18y ago
Look at it this way -- the founders set the system up assuming everybody would try to game it. The system is built on the fact that the president will overreach, the congress will be fractious, etc. It is built assuming checks and balances are needed, not that only great people will serve. Perhaps putting it that way is a little better for you? In my mind, the president is first and foremost an average citizen who is called upon to do some work for the country for a few years. I think if we forget the "average" part of that equation, we start expecting more and more of the office and crossing the line into hero worship. If the president becomes a hero or in any way messianic, we've lost the true meaning of the office. The point is that we're all qualified. It's a democracy. Can we have presidents that we think did great jobs? Sure. But that immediately gets into opinion, which is politics by any other name. My great president is the night watchman, making sure the nation is safe but staying aloof. Perhaps yours is the architect, designing our society of tomorrow, etc. (Substitute various opinions of "good" and "bad" here) I'm not going to accept your position, nor your mine. So we vote on those poor schmucks that are big-headed enough to think they can do the job better than the rest of us. If you think about it, it's a great system. It allows lots of conflict without violence, it allows one person to stand for all the ills of the nation, it promotes competitiveness among the parties to solve problems. It even gives those who require it heroes to worship.
- deleted 18y ago
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DanielBMarkham 18y ago

Look at it this way -- the founders set the system up assuming everybody would try to game it. The system is built on the fact that the president will overreach, the congress will be fractious, etc. It is built assuming checks and balances are needed, not that only great people will serve. Perhaps putting it that way is a little better for you? In my mind, the president is first and foremost an average citizen who is called upon to do some work for the country for a few years. I think if we forget the "average" part of that equation, we start expecting more and more of the office and crossing the line into hero worship. If the president becomes a hero or in any way messianic, we've lost the true meaning of the office. The point is that we're all qualified. It's a democracy. Can we have presidents that we think did great jobs? Sure. But that immediately gets into opinion, which is politics by any other name. My great president is the night watchman, making sure the nation is safe but staying aloof. Perhaps yours is the architect, designing our society of tomorrow, etc. (Substitute various opinions of "good" and "bad" here) I'm not going to accept your position, nor your mine. So we vote on those poor schmucks that are big-headed enough to think they can do the job better than the rest of us. If you think about it, it's a great system. It allows lots of conflict without violence, it allows one person to stand for all the ills of the nation, it promotes competitiveness among the parties to solve problems. It even gives those who require it heroes to worship.

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]