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Washington established the presidency. How much of it would he recognize now?
- tocs3 2y agoIt has been a while since I spent much time with NPR but this is a nice (general) article about the presidency. It even strikes a pretty conservative tone. It is not too long take a look.
- yieldcrv 2y ago> At one point, they considered having a three-man executive leadership Switzerland patched many aspects of the American model for the current iteration of their union They implemented the Federal council concept from the federalist papers and I’m a big fan of it. The head of all parties is in this council, and the outward facing head of state for diplomatic purposes rotates between these members. The office is very professional, at least according to US standards of decorum for politicians. Other patches such as more federalism and maintaining a small national government are interesting. Pipe dreams of some fringe US sentiment, but available to play with in that sandbox. US federal government is federal in name alone, there is very little federalism left as it has the mandate to control all facets of life through the current interpretation of interstate commerce, and it merely tolerates intrastate sovereignty
- cafard 2y agoAt the time of Washington's retirement, the US extended nominally to Mississippi on the west, and a bit north of the Gulf of Mexico on the south. Its practical control did not cover anything like all that territory. So yes, things have changed. >> To get a role with the British government, it was all about who you knew. Quite, but Bagehot makes a case for the British cabinet system. British cabinets have had their share of duds, but so have American cabinets. See Elkins and McKittrick, The Federalist Era, on the decline of the cabinet between Washington's administrations and Adams's.