(or, a Presidential Hopeless)
Today I turn thirty-five. I now meet all of the criteria required to Preside over the United States of America as Commander-in-Chief. God help us all.
I don’t know why, but this little milestone has been lodged in memory for over a decade. I remember making light of it in my twenties. “Eight more years and I can be president,” I would jest on a twenty-seventh birthday. The truth is that I have no interest in being president of a country, but if I were– oh, buddy. Look out, now.
My platform would be to strip from the Office a great number of powers which should not have been granted in the first place. In times of duress, it is natural for a person, and more so for a people, to look toward strong, salvific figures who will make the hard decisions on our behalf and oppose whatever evil needs to be thwarted. Surviving and being saved doesn’t sound so bad, right? The problem is that once the dark times have passed or the Monster has been felled, the expanded powers remain. They do not diminish in kind with the removal of the threat.
This has led the country of my birth to adopt the very practices and powers which precipitated its emancipation from England.
On War Powers
Imagine a President who could not volunteer his countrymen into combat or war. The Office would still command the military, but could not pick a fight at will. This gets a bit messy when we think about the heroic efforts of uniformed Americans to infiltrate dangerous settings and extract kidnapped or enslaved people in far off sovereign nations.
Stories like this make us feel good about ourselves as Americans and make us think, “Gosh, it’s a good thing the President can order that to happen.” The problem is that the President can also order things that would make us feel not so good as Americans. We rarely hear about those stories– even then, it is thirty or forty years after the events.
On Economic Powers
Behind the scenes of the Executive Branch are strategists, lawyers, and economists hard at work to articulate trade agreements and review proposed amendments. Strange, then, that by executive order a president might impose tariffs on trade with specific partners.
“Whoa, wait a minute,” I hear you thinking. “Of course, Congress has explicit powers to levy and control taxes, tariffs and such. ” Through various legislative acts, Congress has ceded such powers to the Office of the President. Without consulting any other body, a President can currently levy tariffs on a commodity of his choice at will.
This is significant because trade creates peace. This indirect benefit of trade is shared among all people, not just those directly involved in the trade. The peace I create personally between myself and another is enjoyed by all members of our respective communities. Trade creates peace not just between individuals, but incentivizes peace between entire communities respectively.
Again, you might think unique, salvific power concentrated in an individual is not so bad. What if we discover that a certain commodity or product is “bad” for the environment (without considering degree of offense; just a binary “either good or bad”). Without immediate action, we might continue to enrich the country of origin or the manufacturers with our trade and Congress would require some time to order prohibitive tariffs. Better that we give a single individual the right to close trade with a new found enemy quickly. Never mind that peace and prosperity necessarily result from trade.
My Platform
Only madmen and machiavellians seek out such power as we have in the Executive Branch. I’m not either of those, but if I were and became President, I would empty the tool chest.
Imagine a country in which no single individual could plunge us into a twenty-years war; where people were not subject to undue hardship through absurd surcharges for the right to thrive through trade and commerce.
Imagine a country with no king.
Vote Tehrm: The Last King of America.
Good read Michael.